Auburn
by Super Saiyan Cyndaquil
Summary: A very different, much more brutal initiation sets Jaune, Blake, Ruby, and Weiss down a diverging path at Beacon Academy and while their individual pasts threatened to tear them apart, they find that by sticking together as a team they can overcome anything that stands in their way. First, they just have to learn what it actually means to be a team.
1. Blind

**Auburn**

_Chapter 1: Blind_

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><p>Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but I suppose you all knew that already.<p>

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><p>Jaune Arc was going to die.<p>

He hated to admit it but he really didn't see any other possible outcome at this point as every second brought him closer and closer to a (hopefully painless and immediate) imminent death by gravity. This wasn't what he signed up for...at least not what he thought he signed up for.

He just wanted to make the world a better place. Was that so bad? Sure, he'd done some bad things along the way; He did fake those transcripts to get into Beacon. However, it all evened out, right? So why was this happening to him? Why had that crazy headmaster launched them off the side of the cliff? He had so many questions but he wasn't going to get an answer to any of them if he didn't do something in the next couple seconds. The treeline for the Emerald Forest was nearly upon him.

"I'm so dead." Jaune closed his eyes and considered just waiting for nothingness to claim him. A brief flash of pain beforehand, maybe. Preferably a very, very brief flash of pain.

No.

He couldn't just give up here. He had so much to live for. He was only Seventeen years old. There were so many first experiences he needed to have. He had yet to kiss a girl. Before that how about holding hands with one. Yeah...he couldn't afford to die yet. Not like this. He didn't want to be remembered as a splat on the ground that had never even held hands with a girl.

Jaune's eyes shot open and he reached for his sword. He unsheathed it and the sheath expanded into a shield. No sooner did he complete this action and he met with the top of the trees. Leaves and small branches whipped at his face, obscuring his vision and cutting his face. He treated these as minor annoyances and brought his shield in front of himself. It was possibly the best decision of his life. The angle of his descent brought him to the trunk of the tree and his shield struck it hard. If that had been his face he would've died as quickly as he had just been envisioning.

Instead he ricocheted off with nothing more than a sudden numbness in his left arm. His right arm meanwhile flailed wildly as he tried to slow his descent by any means necessary. By mere dumb luck he managed to bury his sword into the trunk that had nearly just killed him. It splintered bark and wood apart as it gouged a horrendous wound into the tree as he continued downwards. Every second brought him closer to the earth still, but now it was at a constantly decelerating speed. He was still going a little more quickly than he would have liked but it was no longer fatal.

Finally, after not all that long at all, his feet struck the ground. They failed to support him and he crumbled to his knees and let go of his sword which remained planted firmly in the side of the tree. His shield fell to the ground next to it, his arm no longer capable of holding it. It was still too numb from the earlier impact. Jaune sat there for several minutes in complete silence as he stared with wide-eyed disbelief at the forest all around him. As feeling began returning to his arm and legs he finally realized the reality of the situation.

"I survived." He whispered before breaking out into a huge grin after hearing his own voice. He jumped to his feet and pumped his fists above his head. "I survived!" He shouted to the forest around him, not caring who he let know. At least, he didn't care until he heard the howling of several Beowulfs respond to him. "Ah, crap!" Jaune bent down and pick up his shield which popped back into its sheath form before struggling several seconds to unwedge his sword from the tree. Once his weapon was secure he took off in the direction he was sure he didn't hear a horrifying creature of Grimm respond.

After sprinting for several seconds he realized he had no idea what it was he was supposed to be doing. Professor Ozpin had given them no instructions. He told them almost nothing at all actually. Jaune thought back to the brief couple sentences the headmaster of Beacon Academy had told them.

"In front of you is the Emerald Forest. It is teeming with dangerous Grimm and as such is the ideal location for your initiation into my school. Good luck." Not a moment after he said this and they had all been rather violently catapulted off the side of a cliff and into the aforementioned forest. What was he supposed to do here? Climb back up? He didn't mind the idea of getting out of here immediately. A beeping from his pocket brought him from his thoughts and he halted his mad dash for survival to give it his attention.

He pulled his scroll out and after unlocking it saw a pending message. It read: 'Congratulations on passing the first task. Now that you've survived your fall you are to begin your second task. Locate a partner. How about...the first student you make eye-contact with. They'll be your partner for your next four years at Beacon...or until one of you dies. Do try to pick someone you'll get along with. Complete this to receive your next task.'

Jaune's eye twitched.

He was going to murder that nutty headmaster. If he made it out of here alive. Maybe faking his transcripts wasn't such a hot idea after all? There were other ways to make the world a better place. Soup kitchen. Home repair. Taking care of the elderly. No, no, no. He was here now. He couldn't turn back. He was going to complete all these stupid tasks and become the best Hunter this world had ever seen!

"Let's do this!" Jaune declared to himself as he punched his own chest. He was mindful enough to not be too loud. He didn't want to attract more Grimm. He just had to find a partner. Hopefully someone he knew; Preferably Ruby. She was nice. She looked very capable in a fight. She built that scythe of hers after all. It was also a gun! Maybe Weiss? She was gorgeous. That there was a girl he wouldn't mind giving his first hand-holding to. Yang? She seemed kinda difficult to deal with. There was also that girl on the cereal box. She seemed pretty eager to get on Team Jaune. He had some pretty good options. Now it was just locating one of them.

The sounds of a battle drew his attention. He listened more intently and made out the sounds of metal clashing with Grimm-hide. A scream of exertion followed by more clashes told Jaune it was a girl. Maybe it was one of them?! Excitedly, he took off towards the source of the noise and paused behind a giant tree. He peeked out from behind it and his head lowered slightly in disappointment.

It was some girl he didn't recognize. She had long black hair and a very cute black bow. The thing she was fighting was a terrifying sight. A giant black snake lunged at her and she barely dodged out of the way. If he remembered right that was a snake Grimm called a King Taijitu. It felt like he was forgetting a detail about it though...whatever.

Now was his chance to slip away if he wanted. The girl hadn't noticed him and seemed to be holding her own just fine. If he left her without making eye-contact they didn't have to be partners and he could find one of his earlier-thought-candidates. He didn't want to admit it but that Grimm scared him a little too. Just as he resolved himself to do this he was reminded of that detail he had been forgetting. King Taijitu had two heads…

A white snake was sneaking up on the girl. She was going to be attacked unsuspectingly from behind while she was occupied with the first head. She could die...he couldn't let that happen. He didn't want to become a Hunter to let people die just so he could be safe; The exact opposite. He would rather die for others if it meant they could live on.

"I gotta do this." He took several deep breaths and realized his knees were shaking violently. Was he gonna buckle under fear? No! He had to be brave. The white snake was pulling its head back. It was preparing to strike. She still hadn't turned to see it yet.

She was going to die.

Before that thought had even fully formed he had broken from his cover and was running to her location. The white snake lunged just as he reached her back. His shield was already deployed and raised. Its head ran smack into it and it bounced backwards from the unexpected obstacle. Jaune nearly fell on his butt from the recoil but managed to keep his balance by stepping backwards and into the back of the girl he had saved.

"Thanks." Her smooth silk-like voice didn't sound at all like she was currently engaged in a life or death struggle. "Think you can hold that one off long enough for me to finish this one?"

"Haha...leave it to me." Jaune's voice cracked as he looked at the giant snake in front of him. It was much bigger up close and he felt his vision blur out of focus as fear gripped him. He was staring down death again…

"This won't take long." He felt the softness of the girl's back disappear as she re-engaged her foe. She was giving it her all. There was no reason he shouldn't be expected to do the same.

"Here goes nothing!" Jaune forced his eyes to focus on the snake in front of him and charged forward with a furious battle shout. His sudden change in demeanor must have shocked the Taijitu because it pulled back slightly instead of lunging forward. When Jaune was what he guessed was close enough he swung his sword in a powerful cutting arc...only to fall magnificently short. He stumbled as his sword met air and nearly tripped over his own feet. "...Not what I planned." He grinned sheepishly up at the snake which lunged at him. "Crap!" Jaune let out a high-pitched scream as he raised his shield and blocked the snake's strike again.

Its head once again bounced backwards and Jaune stumbled away from it. It recovered much more quickly this time and lunged again. Jaune barely blocked this time but was knocked to his butt in the process. The snake didn't appear phased at all this time and lunged once more.

He was dead.

He couldn't raise his shield in time and was going to get ripped in half by this light-damned Grimm. At least he went out trying to protect a girl…

Said girl flew across his vision and with quick work pincered the King Taijitu's head clean off. Blood sprayed in all directions as it's head and body hit the ground. Jaune had to scoot rapidly backwards to avoid getting caught by the red splashes. Once a safe distance back he let out a sigh of relief. Twice now, he had escaped death by the skin of his teeth. He looked around for his savior but caught no sight of her.

Had she abandoned him? Jaune's heart fell as he realized the implications of this. He had sucked so horribly she had fled before the two of them could make eye-contact so she could avoid being his partner. He couldn't really blame her. That had been pretty disgraceful on his part. He deserved to be abandoned. His eyes were focused on the grass at his feet when a second pair came into view. He looked up in surprise and locked eyes with a pair of beautiful yellow ones. The girl with the bow gave him a small smile and extended her hand. Jaune took it and allowed himself to be hoisted to his feet. He couldn't help but stare at her in disbelief.

"My name is Blake Belladonna." She introduced herself with a slight incline of her head. "Thanks again for coming to my aide." Jaune opened and closed his mouth but no words came out. She was still going to thank him? He had been the one who was saved in the end. He had to let her know it was fine. She didn't have to team up with him if she didn't want to. Maybe it wasn't too late to undo this. Before he could voice any of this though, the girl he now knew as Blake gave a small chuckle. "Aren't you the guy who was in the Onsie?"

Jaune knew it should have made him embarrassed. He wasn't exactly up-to-date on the latest pj fashion in the city and had made a bit of a fool of himself last night. However, her calling him out on it in such a way made him feel comfortable. It was exactly like when he met Ruby. "The name's Jaune Arc." He pointed to himself dramatically, all his previous floundering forgotten. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

Blake rolled her eyes at his introduction but the small smile never left her face. She extended an open palm towards him. "Nice to meet you, Jaune Arc."

He took her hand and gave a single, firm shake. "Nice to meet you, partner."

Their scrolls beeped as their partnership was confirmed.

Jaune immediately fumbled for the device, eager to see his new task now that he had successfully accomplished yet another. He was on a roll. Two tasks down and he hadn't died yet. Just nearly. Twice. Who was counting?

He cast his pointless thoughts aside as his scroll began displaying its newest message from Ozpin. 'Congratulations Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna on becoming partners. May you fight well together. Your third task begins now. To the west is a cave. Locate it, enter it, and retrieve a relic from inside. Once you've exited the cave you will be given your fourth task. Until then.'

"That sounds easy enough." Jaune looked up from his scroll to see his partner already walking. "Hey, wait up!" He pocketed his scroll and took off after her. She moved through the forest with practiced ease, almost as if she lived in it her entire life. He meanwhile crashed through it like a wild boar.

"So Blake," He began as he ducked under a tree branch that nearly whacked him in the face. "What brings you to Beacon?"

"I want to become a Huntress." Was her curt reply. He waited several seconds for her to say more but it seemed that was as much as she cared to elaborate.

"Really? What a coincidence. I'm here to become a Hunter myself!" He chuckled at his own lame humor but quickly stopped when Blake didn't join in. "I come from a line of warriors and Hunters myself. It seemed right to follow in their footsteps, you know? Besides, it feels good to help people. What about you? Why do you want to become a Huntress?" He hoped that by sharing a little about himself that she would open up. For a moment it didn't seem like it would work.

"There's...so much wrong with this world." Blake finally answered. "I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I have to fix it."

"Ah" Jaune responded back awkwardly. That made his goals of keeping the family name going feel pretty insignificant. He decided to just let the conversation die with that and Blake seemed more than happy to leave it. So for the nearly an hour the two of them walked until they found what they could only assume was the cave their scroll mentioned.

If Jaune had to pick one word to describe the cave it would be ominous. Unreadable warnings were scrawled all around the edges of the gaping entrance that seemed to extend forever into pure darkness. Blake approached the writing and seemed to attempt to decipher their meaning. Jaune, meanwhile tried to peer deeper into the gaping black hole that was before them. He had no such luck in discerning anything.

He looked to Blake as he formed an idea but she seemed distracted so he ran back to the forest for a minute. When he returned she just seemed to be finishing and turned to look for him. When her eyes finally landed on him they widened in surprise as she noticed he was carrying something new.

"Ta da!" Jaune waved the torch he had just constructed happily above his head. It didn't look very impressive in the sunlight but he knew it would be more than enough to light up the cave ahead.

"I'm impressed. How did you even know how to make that?" Blake genuinely looked like she meant her first statement. It caused a small sense of pride to build up in Jaune's chest. Maybe she wouldn't think of him as so worthless after this?

"Oh, you know. Just something I picked up from my days of youth." He shrugged cooly.

Blake rolled her eyes at his vague answer but didn't press the point. "Shall we go find that relic?" She indicated for him to take the lead now that he had the light.

"Definitely." He strolled purposefully ahead and she fell into line with him. As he expected, it lit up the cave brilliantly and they made their way deeper into it. "Did you manage to figure out what all that writing by the entrance meant?"

Blake shook her head. "Only that this place is dangerous. We should be careful." No sooner did she say this then did the torch begin illuminating numerous skeletons scattered across the cave floor. Most of them were just the remains of rats and rodents but several here and there looked like they might even belong to a human.

Jaune gulped nervously. "I don't think we needed that writing to figure that out." Blake could only nod in silent agreement. They proceeded deeper in but this time without any talking. Jaune was far too terrified of alerting whatever it was that had created those skeletons. He did not want to end up like that one bit. Two near-death experiences in a day was enough for him thank you. He just really hoped that this light was enough to scare off anything that they came across. He would hate for something to descend upon them because they were suddenly thrust into darkness.

Maybe it was because he had this last thought, maybe it was just because he was a klutz. Either way, no sooner did those thoughts enter his brain then he tripped and stumbled over a small pebble. He fell forward and dropped the torch to catch himself. By pure dumb luck the torch fell into a puddle…

...and thrust them into complete and utter darkness.

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><p>Blake Belladonna let out a long, drawn out sigh as their only source of light was extinguished. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she could see almost as if she'd never lost the light at all in only a couple seconds. She knew though that her partner wouldn't be nearly as lucky. He was going to be completely blind the remainder of their duration in the cave.<p>

Jaune hadn't moved from his spot on the ground. He was on his hands and knees and was just staring at the spot where he had last seen the torch. She felt bad for him. She wanted to call out to him and tell him not to worry about it. Tell him there was no harm done. She could still see after all…

...that was the one thing she didn't want him knowing. She couldn't risk her identity being compromised on only her second day into the academy. She wasn't exactly seeing another alternative either though. They were effectively stranded in here unless she revealed her secret. There was no way the torch was going to be lit again and it would take a considerable amount of time for them to stumble 'blindly' out to make another. She once again sighed as she realized what it was she had to do.

Jaune must have heard this sigh because his head jerked up and he looked in her direction with complete worry and fear on his face. "I'm so sorry, Blake! I'll fix this I swear! Don't give up on me and abandon me as a partner-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Blake interrupted him as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. No one is abandoning anyone. It was a mistake. No harm done." She took a deep breath as she prepared herself to reveal her big secret. "...I can actually see in the dark."

To her complete surprise Jaune let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness." His worry seemed to ebb away as if it had been an illusion. Instead it was replaced by what looked like awe. "You're awesome. I'm glad to have you as a partner."

"Glad?" Blake tilted her head in confusion. He wasn't mad at her for hiding her secret?

"Yeah." Jaune nodded his vigorously to emphasize his point. "You kick ass in a fight. Seem super cool, smart, and collected. You're beautiful. And now I find out you have night vision like some super-hunter from a comic book!"

Blake felt her face heat up at all his blunt praise and she was glad he couldn't see it. She was also thrilled to realize Jaune didn't actually realize what her having night-vision really meant. In a small way, she was glad he was her partner now too. She shook off these thoughts as she lifted him to his feet by the elbow. "Come on, take my hand. I'll guide us through this." Without waiting for a response she grabbed his hand and began pulling him through the darkness.

They continued for several seconds in silence. She had expected him to say something more but apparently something was distracting him now.

"...My first hand-holding."

"What?" Blake's bow twitched as she heard Jaune say something nonsensical.

Jaune was staring at where their hands were connected (not that he could actually see it). "It's my first time holding hands with a girl. Well, a girl not my mom or sisters."

Blake shook her head but smiled. "Don't get too used to it. Once you can see again, you're cut off."

"I'll savour the moment while I can then." Jaune said just a little too happily.

She was going to respond but the scenery of the cave suddenly changed as they reached what looked like a massive chamber. The walls and ceiling extended much farther and the floor dipped down to form what looked like a giant bowl. In the middle of this massive cavern was a pedestal...and on that pedestal was a chess piece; A white knight. "Jaune, I see the relic."

"Are you serious?" Jaune took a couple excited steps forward but nearly tripped because of the unexpected slant. Blake held him tight to steady him. "Let's go get it and get out of here. I still can't see anything."

"Yeah, okay." Blake took a couple steps into the cavern when her bow twitched again. They weren't alone. She could feel it. Her tension must have reached her hand because even Jaune suddenly seemed on edge.

"Blake?" He asked in hushed panic. "What is it? What's out there?"

She shook her head and then remembered he couldn't see. "I don't know. I...don't see anything." Her eyes scanned every inch of the cavern that was visible to her. There was nothing. As far as her eyes could tell it was just them. Her other senses knew better though. But until it made itself known, there was nothing she could do. "We need to move. Preferably quickly."

"Grab it and run. I like it." Jaune nodded to her plan and they both moved at a much more hastened pace. Blake had one hand on Gambol Shroud, ready for anything. Without so much as a twitch from the danger though they made it to the small monolith in the center. Not missing a beat, she snagged the chess piece and forced it into Jaune's free hand. He put it into his pocket and nodded to her.

"Let's get out of here." Jaune turned around and began to drag Blake back. She nodded as she scanned once more into the chamber. Sure that it was safe she turned around only to finally see it.

"Wait!" Blake pulled at his hand hard and nearly yanked him off of feet.

"What is it?" Jaune looked to her but she didn't respond so instead he squinted off into the dark. "...Is that a lightbulb? Is there electricity in here?" He asked as his eyes caught something.

Blake shook her head. "That's no lightbulb. It's the tip of a Deathstalker." Jaune couldn't make out the enormity of the Grimm that was before him but unfortunately to Blake it was all too clear. The giant, scorpion-esque creature had been resting on a ledge above where they had entered the chamber. Now that it saw them though it had climbed down from it's perch and was blocking their exit out of here.

"Can we get around it?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"I don't know." Blake shook her head. "I'm going to have to distract it. Once I give you the go you have to get through."

"No way!" Jaune began to protest but Blake gave his hand a fierce squeeze that shut him up.

"I'm the only one that can see it. You can't fight it blind. Besides, my abilities specialize in subtlety. If anyone has a chance of sneaking by it, it's me." She pulled out Gambol Shroud and readied it in front of herself.

"Alright, but if you get in trouble you better let me know. I won't let anything happen to you." Jaune turned back to the only source of light he could see and watched it carefully.

"Thanks but I'll be fine. Now let's go. It looks like it knows we have to go through there to get out. It's waiting for us to make the first move." Blake didn't wait for a response as she charged forward.

"Damnit." She heard Jaune grumble behind her, clearly unhappy with the situation as he ran after her. It was gonna be fine though. Her big concern was whether or not he could make it out past the Deathstalker without her guiding him.

As she closed in on it the Deathstalker finally started to move forward too. It let out a horrid screech that echoed violently across the cave walls as it swung one of its pincers at her. Blake easily dodged the pincer and swung at the face of the giant scorpion. To her great annoyance her blade bounced pointlessly off its head. It was quite a bit thicker than she thought if it was able to take a blow from Gambol Shroud and not even crack. It then made a noise that she could only assume was in irritation as its deadly tail took a jab at her. She left a shadow clone in her place and dodged the attack and to the Deathstalker it probably looked like it killed her. She was only too quick to prove it wrong though as she pull the katana blade out from her sheath and attempted to scissor its tail off with the bladed end of both her weapons.

Again she didn't even scratch it and only seemed to make it more angry as it swung at her once again with its pincers. She left another shadow clone to be destroyed as she put distance between the two of them. It didn't seem to fall for the same trick twice as it immediately began to look around for her again. It found her a little too quickly and she grimaced. Her katana folded into its pistol form and she began firing bursts of dust bullets to anger it further. It worked and the Deathstalker finally began to give chase.

"Jaune! Now!" Blake yelled as she ran sideways while still spraying it with gunfire. It followed after her perfectly and she caught a glimpse of Jaune as he made it to the chamber entrance.

"Blake, I think I'm here! Now get outta there!" He shouted and looked desperately into the darkness, unable to see them.

"I'm on my way!" The Deathstalker finally caught up to her and once again attacked with its tail. Blake easily dodged and ended up once again inside its guard. She jumped at one of its arms and kicked off it and landed on its back before kicking off once again, flying in the air over the Deathstalker and behind it. "Later." She turned her head to grin at it and only realized too late she had made a mistake. Its tail was swinging backwards and right at her. It was too close to dodge and she couldn't turn around quickly enough to block it. And so the back end of the tail struck her cleanly in the back. She yelled out a cry of pain as she was launched forward and towards the ground.

With a loud thud she crashed and rolled several feet, losing her weapon in the process. Her aura had saved her life but did little to mitigate the pain. It was going to be a solid thirty seconds before she was going to be able to move again. That was assuming her vision quit swimming too. Not that she had thirty seconds. The Deathstalker was running at her again and Jaune couldn't see. She was going to die like this. Facedown in a cave by a giant Grimm. She would likely be skewered by its tail. Hopefully it would be quick. At least Jaune had survived. Maybe this wasn't so bad? It was true she hadn't really helped the world out much. She'd done more to it hurt it, actually. She couldn't help but have pointless thoughts like this as her final moment approached.

"Blake!" Jaune? He sounded really close. Had he come back for her? That idiot! He was going to get himself killed and her death would be for nothing. He couldn't see the damn thing and even if he could, how was he supposed to fight it? His sword and shield were drawn but even Gambol Shroud had been ineffective at so much as scratching it. What did he hope to accomplish?

"Jaune, you idiot." She tried to yell but it came out no more than a raspy whisper. "Run and live." She attempted to turn her head towards him but the site of the Deathstalker caused her to lock up in fear. It was practically on top of her and its tail was descending. This was it. She was dead.

"Get away from her you monster!" Jaune yelled at the top of his lungs. With not even a second to spare he got between Blake and the stinger with his shield and managed to deflect it. The stinger glanced to the right and slammed into the ground right next to Blake's head.

"H-How?" Blake couldn't believe it. Jaune was practically blind but had managed to intercept the strike.

"Blake?" Jaune began looking around the floor in panic for her. In his blundering he kicked her in the ribs and tripped over her body. "Omph!" He hit the ground rather hard and his shield slid away from him.

"Jaune!" Blake coughed in agony as the wind was knocked out from her lungs. His foot had hurt quite a bit.

"Sorry!" Jaune groaned as he rolled over. His eyes widened in fear and Blake turned to see what he was looking at. To her horror, the Deathstalker had raised its stinger again and was prepared to take another jab. But which one of them was it going to aim for? They were both on the ground. Regardless, she still couldn't move properly. If it came for her she was dead anyways. Jaune didn't look much better.

It apparently chose it's target as its stinger descended...right towards her. This time though, Jaune didn't have his shield to protect her. That didn't stop him from trying. "Whoa!" He rolled up to her and grabbed her body. Holding her tight against himself, he rolled them out of the way and the stringer struck the ground. He was sure to stop with himself on bottom. Her hair flayed onto his face and he had to swat it out of way so he could see the light of the stinger.

"Jaune! What are you doing?" Blake attempted to pick herself off him but he held her tight to his body.

"I'm saving our lives!" Jaune rolled them over again. The sound of the stringer crashing into the ground told her they just barely dodged it.

"You can't do anything by trying to save me! Stand up and fight it!" They rolled and dodged once again.

"I've got a plan!" The Deathstalker was getting quicker with its strikes and Jaune had to keep rolling side to side without more than a second pause now. The whole thing was starting to make Blake dizzy. Finally he quit rolling them around when they ended up directly under the Deathstalker. The hail of stinger strikes paused as the giant Grimm lost sight of them.

"Your plan was hide under it?" She hissed into his ear.

"No! This was my plan!" She felt the hand that still held his sword leave her back as he thrust upwards. A violent scream of pain let Blake know that the attack was successful. Jaune pulled his sword out and stabbed at it again. Then again. Each stab caused the Deathstalker's roars of pain to get louder. It's legs buckled and it nearly collapsed on them. Their luck held out though and it stumbled away from them and proceeded to thrash violently a short distance away.

They sat in silence for a few moments as they both gasped desperately for breath. Finally, Blake had to know what had just transpired. "How did you know its weakness was its underbelly?"

"Weakness?" Jaune let his head hit the ground and looked up at her. "I just attacked the only thing I could get at while rolling around." Was he being serious? It certainly looked that way. He looked just as thankful that his strategy worked as she felt.

"Well, it actually saved us." Blake broke eye-contact to watch it continue to struggle to stand up. It was wounded badly and wouldn't be paying them anymore mind.

"So, umm…" Jaune grumbled awkwardly and Blake turned back to him. He had a very deep blush on his face. "...I don't suppose I could ask for you to get off me." Her face got hot as she felt her own blush spread across her face. She attempted to get off of him but only halfway succeeded before her knees buckled and she fell back on top of him. "Blake! You okay?" He sat up and held her gently in a sitting position.

"I'm fine." Even she knew she didn't sound very convincing. "I just took a nasty fall earlier and my body is still recovering."

"Guide me to your weapon and my shield. I'll grab them and get us out of here." Jaune started to get up but a tremor knocked him back to his butt. "What was that!?"

Blake turned and saw the Deathstalker stumble into the cavern wall. It swayed away from it before smashing into it once again. To her terror, the wall creaked and cracked. The crack spread like a spiderweb and before long covered half the cavern. One of the cracks broke loose and a boulder fell. It smashed into the back of the Grimm and it let out its most horrendous screech yet. Jaune and Blake covered their ears to keep the horrid noise out but that was now the least of their worries. Several more hunks of rock broke free and one landed a little more than too close for Blake's comfort.

"It's causing a cave in! We need to get out of here! Now!" Blake shook Jaune urgently and he nodded. He jumped to his feet and hefted Blake off hers.

"Your weapons?"

"About a meter behind me." Blake was astonished as he easily carried her over to where she directed but fumbled pointlessly as he tried to grab it. "Let me down. I can walk." She tried to break free from him but this only caused him to drop her. She landed painfully on the ground.

"I'm sorry! You okay?" She barely heard him ask over the sound of a boulder collapsing right next to them. He let out a girly shriek in surprise.

"I'm fine." Blake hissed in pain as she answered. She grabbed Gambol Shroud and stumbled to her feet. "Let's get out of here now." The Deathstalker was no longer a threat but the cave-in it was causing sure was one. She attempted to run forward but stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Blake!" Jaune called as he stumbled around trying to find her. He found his shield first and immediately retracted it and slid his sword away. Another boulder landed right next to him and it broke into pieces and the debris barely missed them. "Blake, where'd you go?"

"I'm here! I can't run! You're gonna have to help me limp outta here!" She thought about just telling him to leave but knew there was no way he'd go for it. So she just saved them both the time and agreed to accept his help.

"I got you!" Jaune bent down and managed to find her shoulders. He once again hefted her up but this time placed her on her feet. She draped an arm over his shoulder and together the two of them began to amble out of the chamber at a pace that made Blake very nervous. More and more debris was falling all around them and it was only by sheer coincidence they hadn't been hit yet. She gave one last look behind her to see the Deathstalker get buried beneath a pile of rubble and hopefully die. "Where the heck are we even going?" Jaune was more or less walking for both of them but he was completely blind. The sounds of earth shattering all around him had to be terrifying.

It was terrifying even though she could see it too though. "Just keep going straight. You're doing fine." Blake coached as he finally got them out of the chamber. They weren't safe yet though. Even out here the cave was giving way.

"How can I dodge the debris if I can't see?" Jaune looked around frantically but it was fruitless and Blake knew it.

"There would be no dodging it even if you could see! Just keep your eyes in front of you! All we can do is go forward." Blake ordered harshly. They couldn't afford any distractions. Fortunately her partner quickly listened to her orders and helped her limp towards the entrance. After several agonizing seconds the light at the end of the tunnel came into sight.

"Ah! I see it!" Jaune sounded relieved to finally have one of his senses returned to him. "We're gonna make it!" Just as he shouted this the inevitable happened and a baseball sized rocked clocked him in the back of the head. He stumbled forward and dropped Blake as he collapsed to the ground.

"Jaune! Jaune!" Blake cried in desperation as she got to her knees and shook him. She watched in horror as he waved in and out of consciousness. Blood flowed freely from the back of his head. She had no choice. She wasn't feeling one-hundred percent yet but she had to try to drag him out. He hadn't abandoned her and there was no way she was abandoning him. "Come on, Jaune!" She placed her arms under him and hefted his heavy body up.

He seemed only partially aware of what was going on as he managed to at least stand with her help. He took a couple steps with them leaning on one another for support before he stumbled again. His eyes blanked out before refocusing and then blanked out again. It was all she could do just to hold him up. A rock half their size collapsed in front of them. There was no way she could drag him around it like this.

"Jaune! You gotta snap outta it! You have to do it for me!" She shook him as she racked her brain for a way to bring him back. Nothing came to mind so she attempted to pull him away again. He didn't even take a step this time and she almost dropped him. "Jaune! If you don't come around right this second we are both going to die! Do you understand me? You are going to die!"

A spark returned to his eyes and he looked ahead of them with all the determination he could possibly muster. "That's it Jaune! Now let's go!" They got around the boulder and made their way to the entrance once again. And this time they made it. Just as they stumbled outside the entire mouth of the cave collapsed. No one was ever entering or leaving it again.

"We...we made it." Blake almost broke into tears as she and Jaune both fell to their knees. They were still holding one another for dear life as they stared out at the trees in front of them. At the beautiful blue sky above them. Jaune began chuckling next to her. It must have been contagious because it caused Blake to let out a giggle of her own. After that it was like the floodgates had been broken. They both broke out into full-out laugher that lasted a solid minute before showing any signs of dying down.

"That was one hell of a thing." Jaune grinned a big stupid grin as he pulled out the white knight piece they had retrieved. "I'm so glad you're my partner." He repeated what he had said earlier in the cave.

"I'm glad you're my partner too." Blake really meant that. Anyone else might have ran and abandoned her. He stayed though and fought a Deathstalker while blind for her. "I'm sorry I tried to handle that Grimm on my own. I thought you would have only got in my way." She turned to him and realized that they were still clinging rather tightly to each other. She also noticed how ragged he looked. Cuts and nicks from when she first met him were still there. The back of his head and down his neck and into his hoodie was coated in blood. That didn't begin to cover all the bruises he seemed to have sustained while in there. "Your aura...it isn't healing you."

"My what?" Jaune turned to face her and their noses almost touched. Blake didn't have time to care about things like that right now.

"Aura, Jaune." She repeated.

"Gazuntite."

Blake raised her eyebrow at him. "Do you...know what aura is?"

Jaune's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to respond but Blake put a finger to his lips to shut him up. She already knew the answer and she didn't care to hear whatever excuse he was about to sprout. "Let me unlock it for you."

"You can do that?" He received no answer as Blake closed her eyes and repeated the chant she had learned in her head. After a moment she felt her energy drain and Jaune began glowing brightly. It was miraculous. All his wounds closed up and his bruises vanished. Blake was still so close to him she even felt his aura take her own fatigue away. That was unheard of! There might be something more to this guy than meets the eye. "Wow…" Jaune looked at his hand and flexed it in astonishment. "...I feel brand new. What did you do?"

"I just gave you a small push. Everything else was all you." She smiled and broke away from him as she got to her feat. "I'll give you a book about aura when we get out of this light-forsaken forest."

"Speaking of getting out of here," He followed her lead and stood up. "What do we do with this thing?" He held the chess piece up between them. Just as he asked this their scrolls beeped and they opened it up to see their next instructions. To their confusion their scrolls displayed a map of the forest they were in. The map was littered with numerous red dots. Blake noticed one of them was at about right where they were.

After several seconds a message popped up that read as followed. 'On this map is the location of all the other teams of two. Locate the team that has retrieved the piece identical to yours. Be warned though, if you come across a team with a chess piece of the opposite color of yours you will have to battle to move on. That is all.'

They both stared at their scrolls for several seconds before turning to one another and saying the same thing.

"Are you kidding me?!"

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hey there. Thanks for checking out my story; My first real attempt at RWBY fanfiction. I had initially planned to do the entire initiation thing in one chapter but this part alone ended up breaking 7.5k words so I decided I'm probably gonna have to break it up into three parts lest I have a 20k+ first chapter. This is gonna end up as a JaunexBlake as it is my favorite ship. Anyways, can't promise anything like a quick update as most of my time is being consumed by The Evil Within at the moment. (I had initially planned to write the whole Initiation arc up first before posting anything but that game has seriously halted my progress so I just tidied up this part and decided to see how it did.)

So like it? Hate it? Let me know. Until next time.


	2. Duel

**Auburn**

_Chapter 2: Duel_

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><p>Jaune was about done with these tasks!<p>

They had just been through hell in that cave and they were supposed to do more? Just how many things did he have to go through in order to become a hunter at this school? Maybe the headmaster knew he had faked his transcripts and was just screwing with him at this point?

"I don't want to have to fight other students…" Jaune moaned into his scroll. Grimm were one thing. They wouldn't laugh at you when you lost. They would just eat you. He'd prefer that to the humiliation of getting his face beaten in by another student with one of their high-tech custom weapons.

"We might not have to." Blake finally spoke up after several moments of silence. She had been inspecting the map on her scroll very carefully.

"What do you mean?" He looked at his for a moment again but it only made him feel more hopeless. "There's almost a dozen other teams on this map right now. The odds of us guessing the right one is nearly impossible."

"We're hunters-in-training right now, Jaune. This is a hunt." Blake explained, never taking her eyes from the map. "All the clues we need have likely been given to us. We just need to figure out what they are and deduce which team we're supposed to meet up with. That and hope they do the same thing. If they can't figure this much out I'm not sure I even want to be teamed up with them."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed as he felt himself sweat. "Who'd want to be paired with a couple idiots that can't even figure that out?" He let out a nervous chuckle.

"You're fine, Jaune. We've already faced life and death together." He let out a sigh of relief at her comment and looked at the map on his scroll.

"So...any idea what our clues are?" He asked hopefully. He couldn't even fathom the answer.

Blake sighed. "I can't figure it out at all and if I don't soon, we might have a bigger problem. Once teams start moving no one is going to be in their starting position which might be a clue in itself." Jaune looked back in a panic at his map and wracked his brain for an answer. After staring at it for only a couple seconds he concluded one thing.

They were doomed.

Blake let out a groan of frustration as she seemed to be having thoughts similar to him. It could also be because other players were starting to move. He began to mumble to himself to vent. "Stupid red dots. All look the same. If only these guys acted like their chess piece."

Blake let out a gasp. "That's it!"

"You figured it out?" Jaune turned to her excitedly to see her giving him a similar look.

"You just said it yourself!" She replied before turning back to her map.

"I did?" He pointed to himself and tried to remember. "About the dots being the same?"

"About moving like chess pieces!" Blake probably should have sounded irritatedly but she was too excited for that.

"Ah, yeah!" Jaune pointed in the air as if he understood. "How does that help again?"

"All the quadrants on this map are broken up into squares. Squares that look awfully similar to a chess board. We grabbed a knight piece. If we assume that we move as a knight would and our partners do the same thing…" She let herself trail off.

"We'll meet up at the same spot!" Jaune completed for her as he finally understand. He sunk a little though as another worry hit him. "Knights can move quite a few different ways though. How are we supposed to know which way we're supposed to go?"

"Process of elimination." Blake replied without taking her eyes off the map. "Once I find all the possible spots we can land I just have to find another team that can land in one of the same exact spots. Assuming they also move like a knight piece, of course."

"Of course." Jaune attempted to sound sophisticated as he agreed with her. He couldn't help but admire her cleverness right now. He would be screwed if not for her. It was a good thing he had got involved with that King Taijitu after all.

"I've got it!" Blake spoke with barely contained excitement. "And it looks like they might have figured it out too. We've got another team heading to what should be the same quadrant!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go meet our teammates!" At first the idea of more allies sounded exciting. But as Jaune and Blake ran to meet them he began to have doubts about teaming up with others. Blake had turned out okay for him but what if the others couldn't stand him? What if they thought he was holding them back? He didn't want the others to think he was a burden. What if they convinced Blake of the same? No, that was ridiculous. She had just said it herself: They faced life and death together in that cave. They had a bond now. What exactly that bond was, Jaune couldn't be sure. However, it was undeniably there. He just had to believe he would form it with these new teammates.

With these hopes and doubts in his mind they arrived at their destination.

Jaune took a look around the clearing of the forest they found themselves in. By some luck they had managed to not run into any Grimm on the way. "So, this is the place?"

"It would appear so. We just need to hope our teammates get here too. It looks like they took a detour. They may have run into some Grimm." Blake had barely taken her eyes off her scroll as she monitored the situation of all the other students.

"Should we head to meet them midway?" If they were in trouble, Jaune wanted to help them immediately. No better way to make a good first impression than to run in a help them. It seemed to work with Blake anyways. She shook her head in response but her eyes widened slightly and darted off into the forest. For a second he almost thought he saw her bow twitch. "Blake! What's wrong now? Grimm?" He unsheathed his sword and expanded his shield.

"No. Another team is barreling towards our direction fairly quickly." Bake brought her hand up and rested it on the handle of her blade. "They'll run into us at this rate…we should hide. If they have a black piece we'll have to fight."

Jaune was about to nod in agreement when he heard what sounded like something crashing through the forest. "They're being pursued?" He turned to his partner for confirmation and she nodded.

"Judging by the sounds I would guess an Ursa. A big one." Great...more big Grimm.

He sighed as he resigned himself to what he had to say next. "We gotta help them. Enemies or allies. I would feel horrible if they got killed because we ignored them."

Blake let out a small smirk. "I figured you would say something like that. You're too nice." Despite saying this she made no movement to go hide and instead readied herself for battle.

Jaune let out a happy chuckle. "Thanks, Blake." He knew he could count on her to support him.

"Don't thank me yet. You've got an Aura now so I'm expecting more from you." This caused Jaune to gulp nervously. He wasn't exactly used to people expecting things from him. Rather, people never really wanted or needed him to do anything. It was a terrifying responsibility that he wasn't sure he was ready for...yet he couldn't help but feel a tinge of happiness. For the first time, someone was depending on him. He couldn't afford to let her down. As he thought this he felt something that he could only describe as real, genuine confidence wash over him. He could do this.

No sooner did he think this than two of his classmates came bursting through the brush at full speed. One was a rather tall, muscular boy with a mace. The other was lanky and had an unusual green mohawk. They paused for half a second when they saw the two hunters in front of them but immediately bolted again when they heard a terrible roar from just behind them. As Blake had predicted, an Ursa that was easily twice as big as either of them thrashed into the clearing.

Jaune raised his sword above his head and gave a battlecry as he charged forward. The Ursa paused its pursuit of the other hunters-in-training as it appeared to take notice of its two new adversaries. Realizing that they were more of a threat than it's previous targets it turned to them.

The Ursa raised its claw menacingly towards Jaune but he realized with small pride that it didn't cause him to lock up in fear as it would have not even two hours ago. Apparently four near death experiences made you a little braver. Or maybe just numb to the fear? Regardless, instead of backing off he continued his charge forward and raised his shield. It swung at him and he knocked its claw aside with a bat from his shield.

He stepped inside its guard just as it swung at him with its other claw. Blake appeared right next to him and blocked this strike with Gambol Shroud. Jaune stabbed the Grimm in the stomach and it roared in pain before attempting to take a bite out of his head. He pulled his sword out and in perfect sync with Blake jumped backwards and out of harms way.

"Jaune! Give me a boost." He made eye-contact with his teammate for only half-a-second before he understood her intent.

"You got it!" He bent down and raised his shield over his head. Blake jumped up and the moment her feet touched his shield he pushed upwards, propelling her into the air and high above the Ursa.

It gave another roar and charged at him again. Jaune got back to his feet and blocked one strike with his shield. It swung at him again and he deflected it with his sword but the force of the blow put him off-balance. He wasn't going to be able to respond if it swung again. Fortunately before it could, Blake descended onto its back, burying her blade into its spine. It collapsed forward and Jaune had to backpedal to avoid being crushed. It hit the ground but continued to roar in defiance so he stepped forward and finished it by decapitation. Blood sprayed violently from its neck as its head hit the ground.

The whole fight had lasted only about thirty seconds and was the first time Jaune had faced a Grimm and not thought he would die. Maybe he was cut out for this after all?

"Not bad." Blake seemed to share in this sentiment as she climbed off the back of the Ursa and gave him an approving smile. It turned to a frown though as she regarded the two students in front of her. Jaune turned to them and saw them looking at their scrolls. He pulled out his own and saw a message had appeared while they had been fighting.

'Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna possess the White Knight piece. Cardin Winchester and Russell Thrush possess the Black Rook piece. As mandated from the previous message, these two teams must battle. The winning condition is render your opponents unable to combat further or until the other team surrenders. If either teammate flees the scene of the battle it'll be considered automatic surrender.'

After he finished reading his scroll he looked up nervously at the two in front of him. They were staring them down and were reaching for their weapons. Blake stepped forward and called out to them. "You really intend to fight us after we saved your lives?"

"No one asked you to do that!" The one Jaune guessed was Cardin spit at them. "We had it under control!"

"I could tell that by the looks of fear on your faces as you fled." Blake taunted with a smirk on her face. This caused both boys to glow red in the face with anger.

"Blake…" Jaune tugged at her sleeve lightly. He didn't want to have to fight them if he didn't have to but he also wasn't comfortable with her so openly insulting them. He probably would have fled too if he didn't have such a competent partner by his side.

Blake may have picked up on this because she gave his hand an empathetic squeeze. "If they don't back down Jaune, we have no choice but to fight them. It's them or us. I'm sure you're not gonna choose them?" She was right and he knew it. So with great reluctance he nodded and stepped towards them as well.

"You saw how easily we dispatched that Ursa! We don't want to do the same to you!" Jaune held his shield in front of himself and readying his sword as he spoke. It still gleamed with the blood of the creature behind them. Blake planted Gambol Shroud at her feet in a show of support.

Cardin sneered and pulled out a giant mace from his back. "I'll make you losers eat those words!" He shouted and slammed it into the ground. It caused a miniature explosion that launched hunks of dirt and rock right at them. Jaune stepped in front of Blake and let his shield block all the debris.

"You take him. I'll handle the dagger-wielder who's hanging back." Blake assigned the roles that made the most sense to him too. A single mace shouldn't be a problem...even if it did cause explosions. He would likely be overwhelmed by a pair of daggers however.

"Alright, but just incapacitate him. I don't want anyone to get hurt more than necessary." He was still against this but they really had no choice anymore. So with reluctance, he charged forward. Blake ran just a couple paces behind him.

"I'm going to leave a clone in front of you. When he swings at it, take the shot. Don't pay any mind to it getting hit; It's not me." Jaune wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that but he could only nod and agree to her plan. There was no time to get details as every second brought him closer to the boy that was quite a bit taller than him. He raised his mace high above his head, prepared to bring it down on anyone foolish enough to get within its reach.

Just before they got up to him Blake put on a burst of speed and dashed around Jaune. She charged right at Cardin with Gambol Shroud raised. He didn't hesitate to bring his mace down right on her head. For a split second it looked like he landed a clean shot and that Blake was all but a goner but Jaune remembered her earlier warning and sure enough the doppelganger in front of him faded from existence, leaving a stunned and confused Cardin.

Jaune didn't hesitate to use this to his advantage and bashed the taller boy in the mouth with his shield. He toppled to the ground but managed to hold onto this mace. Jaune flicked at it with his sword, disarming him before raising the blade to his throat. The bigger boy froze in fear and Jaune took the opportunity to see how Blake was doing.

He needn't have worried. In a dazzling display of skill she quickly overpowered her opponent and brought him to his knees. Jaune couldn't help but break into a big grin. Thanks to Blake's little tactic they had won without almost any resistance. He was honestly starting to feel like the two of them could do anything.

Unfortunately for him, he let his gaze linger just a little too long and Cardin took advantage of his distraction. He grabbed Jaune's foot and threw it backwards, effectively causing Jaune to flail for balance and stumble off of him. "Oh, crap!"

"Jaune!" Blake turned as she saw him struggle not to fall over but she was too far away to react.

"Have some payback you punk!" Cardin, still on the ground, grabbed his mace and sat up while swinging it. Jaune had no way to bring his shield around.

It was going to hit him!

Time seemed to stand still as the mace inched closer and closer. Jaune racked his brain for a way out but nothing came to mind. If it exploded when it made contact would he die? Probably. Either way, he was about to find out. The mace made contact with his chest and his vision flashed white.

Everything after that was blank.

Did he die?

Everything was still white so that seemed like the most logical explanation.

What was this sensation he was feeling all over his body? It kind of felt like tingling. He focused in on it and realized at once that it was pain. It caused him to gasp and suddenly he was assaulted by several senses at once.

His vision began to return but everything was blurry. He could make out a lot of green and brown. That was likely the trees. His eyes registered movement from several different people but he couldn't make out who was who or how many there were. It was also weird that they were at a distance. Hadn't he been standing right next to them?

Then he remembered that Cardin's mace must have exploded on contact when it hit him. He must have been launched backwards and if he had to guess, right into a tree. It would explain the horrid back-pain he was feeling. Not that there was a part of him that didn't hurt.

As he waited for his vision to return he focused on his other senses. He smelled really smoky...he really hoped he wasn't covered in burns. His ears were working but the only thing he could hear was a really loud ringing, almost as if someone had set off an alarm clock inside of his head. The last thing was the strong taste of copper in his mouth. He could even feel the blood dribble down his chin. Needless to say, he was in really bad shape.

Finally, his vision quit swimming enough for him to make out the people that were dancing around in his vision. Cardin and Russell were pushing Blake back. That was kind of weird, he thought. She was probably skilled enough to take them both so why was she having trouble? Then he noticed that she kept glancing over to him, probably wondering if he was dead. Then it hit him: She was worried about him and wasn't able to focus properly on the fight because of it. How long had he been sitting here like this? Had it just been a few seconds, or several minutes? There was no way to tell.

It looked like she might be calling out to him but his ears were still ringing too loudly for him to actually hear anything that was happening around him. He had to let her know he was alright but how could he do that? He couldn't exactly call out and moving seemed a little out of the question. He was propped up against a tree in sitting position...maybe he could use the tree as support? He needed to get some kind of response from his limbs first for that to work.

He looked down at his hands and noticed a couple things at once. First, his shield and sword weren't anywhere near him. A quick glance told him they had been blasted about half-way across the clearing in either direction. The second thing he noticed was that he was covered in white energy that could only be his aura. Once he realized what it was he also realized that every second he felt more of his senses return and the pain lessened. He was being healed!

Thank the light for Aura. He couldn't be more thankful to Blake for having unlocked his earlier than he was right now. It had literally saved his life. He would have died beyond a shadow of a doubt without it. Still, it wasn't going fast enough for him. His partner was in trouble and needed him now.

So he focused all the energy he could into his hands. At first he didn't get even the smallest of a response. Then, he felt his fingers twitch. His movements were returning! Soon, he was able to move his whole arm. Then the other arm and soon his legs. Slowly but surely, using the tree behind him as support, he pushed himself up to his feet.

He saw Blake catch the movement and her face lit up in relief. She knew he was alive. He was going to make it. That is, if Cardin didn't have anything to say about it. He caught sight of Jaune standing now too and immediately tried to make a break for him. Blake wasn't about to have it and attempted to impede his progress but Russell managed to hold her off long enough for Cardin to get some distance away from her.

He shouted something that Jaune assumed was threatening and raised the mace above his head again as he charged him. Jaune grimaced as he pushed himself off the tree. He wasn't in exactly tip-top shape and he was also unarmed. He didn't know much about Aura but he guessed it wasn't infinite and if he took another hit like that he was probably going to die for real.

In short: he was in serious trouble.

He couldn't let that stop him now though. He had just dodged death for the fifth time that day and wasn't about to take it for granted. Blake was counting on him now too. It was his goof-up that caused their current predicament. So it was up to him to fix it.

He raised his fists up to his face and took a boxing stance. It must have looked like a last-ditch effort to Cardin because he bust out into laughter, not that Jaune could hear it. Still, it pretty much was. He just had to make it work. He wasn't going to get another chance this time. With that thought, Cardin was on him.

He swung the mace down and Jaune did the only thing he could think of: he threw dirt in his eyes.

He had been sure to scrape up a small patch when he was getting to his feet and it had saved his life. Cardin swung the mace too far to his left and hit only air as he coughed and sputtered while attempting to wipe his eyes clean.

Jaune didn't hesitate to use the opening to sock Cardin right in the nose with his bare fist. The bigger boy stumbled backwards and Jaune punched at his wrist, disarming him once again. Cardin sneered defiantly at him and Jaune felt something inside of him snap. He couldn't be sure why. Maybe it was because the guy had almost blown him up? Maybe it was because he had been tag-teaming his partner? Maybe it was for the simple reason that the guy just plain seemed like a jerk. Regardless, his vision swam with red and he unleashed a vicious series of punches that the bigger boy simply had no chance of defending against. After nearly fifteen seconds of his relentless assault, Cardin fell backwards and didn't so much as twitch.

Jaune stood gasping for breath as his rage subsided and he realized that he was able to hear some things again. There was still a small ringing but even that was disappearing. Man, Aura was really something special if it was responsible for his speedy recovery.

"Jaune!" He looked up to see Blake running at him. Russell was also on the ground. He was about to raise his arm in a wave but she kept running until she ran right into him and enveloped him in a big hug. "I thought you died!" It sounded like she was choking back tears as she clung to him tightly.

"Who? Me?" He attempted to joke about it but his voice came out hoarse and rough. He sighed as he realized that he had really messed up there. "Sorry." He mumbled as he awkwardly patted her back. "I nearly got you kicked out of Beacon."

She pulled back as if she had been slapped and gave him a look of disbelief. "You think I'm worried about getting kicked out because you died?" He tilted his head in confusion at her question. That was what she was worried about, right? His clumsiness had almost cost them the match and without him she would have been sent back for failing initiation. So naturally, that was her concern, wasn't it?

"I was worried that you died because you're my friend, you idiot!" Blake looked like she was fighting back the urge to hit him. Her words alone felt like a slap enough though. Not a violent one, but rather a wake-up call. It had never crossed his mind that Blake would have considered him a friend in the short amount of time they had known each other. He had assumed everything she had done for him up to this point was simply so she could pass and become a full-time Beacon student. Needless to say...he felt like a real idiot.

"Blake...I-" His mouth snapped shut as he tried to figure out what to say to her. She only waited silently. His next words were clearly very important to her. "It's like you said. I'm an idiot. I thought there was no way you'd consider someone with such little skill your friend and was only sticking with me out of obligation to pass. Believe me though, I want nothing more than to be your friend and I'm really happy you consider me one. That is if you still do."

Blake's eyes softened and she let out a tired sigh. She then rested a hand on his shoulder. "Of course I still do. I know it may seem odd that I think of you so highly already...you can be rather pathetic."

"I accept that."

"But, you and I have stared down death together. I thought for sure that Deathstalker was going to kill me in that cave but you saved my life. Not only did you fend it off but you helped me out of that collapsing death trap when I couldn't even walk. Those two things alone have earned my utmost respect, Jaune. You may not be strong...or skilled...or clever either, but you have a good heart. That's something this world needs." She took her hand off his shoulder and lightly bumped his chest with her fist.

He gave her a small smile which she returned. "Some of those things you said...were pretty hurtful. I'd like to think I'm at least a little clever." Blake rolled her eyes but her smile didn't waver. "But thanks. That's the first time anyone has ever said anything like that to me. I never thought I would hear those words from someone as reliable as you." She looked ready to respond but their scrolls updated and they pulled them out to look at them.

'Congratulations to Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna. You've won the duel and are allowed to continue the exam. As a bonus for winning, I'll give you a hint to find your teammates. Look up.'

That was all the message said. "...Look up?" Jaune asked quizzically. He looked to Blake and she only shrugged before pointing to the sky. As they tilted their heads upwards it looked like something was rapidly descending towards them.

Rather than something...someone.

"Ruby!?"

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Wow, so here's that. Now I know I said in my last authors note that this initiation arc was gonna be three chapters long...well I got up to here in this chapter and realized that that's about impossible unless I just continue to give really long chapters. I don't know how the rest of you feel but I think generally about between 4k to 5k words is long enough. Maybe I'm mistaken and you like the endless scrolling though? Anyways, this is more than likely gonna be five chapters for this arc now.

Length issues aside, this felt like a really good place to end this part and I've kept you waiting long enough. I got really motivated by all the positive feedback I received so thank you very much for that!

Next time the team is fully assembled!


	3. Nevermore

**Auburn**

_Chapter 3: Nevermore_

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><p>"Ruby!?" Jaune gasped as he recognized the person that was quickly entering a collision course with the ground.<p>

"You know her?" Blake had also spoken briefly with her last night but had not expected to meet her again like this.

"Jaune! Blake! Help me!" Ruby was within earshot now and was desperately flailing for something to grab onto.

"...I'm going to regret this." Jaune grumbled as he ran to where he was approximating Ruby would land.

"A little to the left, Jaune!" Blake called out helpfully.

"Left…" Jaune looked at his hands to figure out which way was left and then shuffled directly under Ruby in just the nick of time. He caught her/she crashed into him and they both ended up a pile of arms and legs on the ground. Fortunately for Ruby, Jaune had wound up on the bottom. "Damn...I think that's it for my Aura." He groaned.

"I owe you one." Ruby groaned too. Her Aura combined with landing on Jaune had definitely mitigated the fall but she was still pretty sore.

"So you're supposed to be our teammate?" Blake asked as she extended a hand to help Ruby up. Ruby looked perplexed as she took it and got to her feet.

"How do you figure that?" She pulled out the chess piece she was hiding and it was revealed to be the other white knight piece.

"We got a hint for beating up those two." Blake hiked her thumb behind her towards Cardin and Russell.

"Here's ours." Jaune recovered quickly enough even with low Aura and held up their piece. Ruby's eyes lit up in excitement as she realized that they were in fact on the same team. "By the way, where's your partner?" The excitement was just as quickly replaced with fear.

"Oh no...she's gonna kill me. Oh no, oh no!" Ruby began pacing in place as she looked in the sky for something.

"Ruby, calm down and tell us what's going on." Jaune placed a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Who and where is your partner? Also...why did you fall from the sky in the first place?" There had been so much going on the past few minutes he had forgotten how weird it was at all for people to just dive-bomb out of the air.

"Giant Nevermore. Weiss. Still up there! Angry!" Ruby spoke in broken panic that Jaune couldn't hope to decipher so he turned to his partner.

"Her partner is Weiss Schnee. Somehow, they got on a Giant Nevermore and Ruby here jumped off, leaving her dear partner behind on it. She's quite understandably very upset."

"Ah." When Blake put it like that it all made sense. Well, it really didn't but what did anymore? Their scrolls updated once again as they scanned the skies for the massive black bird and Jaune decided to check it quick.

'Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby Rose. You've technically completed your fourth task but seeing as you need four members to continue onto the next one I'm assigning you a bonus task. Find Miss Schnee and save her from the clutches of the Giant Nevermore. When you're successful you'll be given your final task.'

"I swear this guy hates kids." Jaune looked to his two teammates for backup. Neither one of them was really paying much attention to him as they continued to scan for the Nevermore. He was going to join them when they heard a mighty 'Caw' from behind where they were looking. They all spun around to see their target descending right for them. Rather, it was likely coming for Ruby.

"You must have really ticked it off." Jaune grumbled as it got closer and closer. He turned to Blake. She had pretty good vision. "Can you see Weiss?"

"Yeah, I see her." Blake nodded and Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "And she does not look happy." This caused Ruby to cringe in fright. Blake's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "I think it's preparing for something…"

"Like what?" Jaune wasn't exactly sure what the Nevermore could do to them without coming down to the ground. If they were going to have a chance to rescue Weiss they were going to have to wait for that. He looked back up at it just in time to see it launch a barrage of feathers at them. Feathers that looked really, and he meant really, deadly.

"I'm guessing it was preparing to do that." Ruby pointed out not-so-helpfully.

"There's too many of them, we'll never be able to dodge! We gotta get clear!" Blake shouted as she ran up to Jaune and Ruby and grabbed them by the elbows.

"We'll never get clear in time." Jaune shook his head and searched the clearing for the one thing he knew could save them.

"Then what do we do? We don't exactly have a way of blocking them." Ruby took a nervous step towards Jaune.

Finally, his eyes spotted it. "We need to get to my shield! I can protect us!" Without waiting for a response he began running for it. Blake, who was still holding his elbow was yanked along and in turn so was Ruby.

"Jaune! Are you sure about this?" Ruby didn't sound very convinced.

Surprisingly it was Blake who responded. "That thing took a strike from a Death Stalker without even denting! It'll work!"

"That's if we make it!" Jaune kept glancing anxiously between his shield and the oncoming feathers.

They were way too close now.

If they made it at all it wasn't going to be by much.

He put on a final, adrenaline-filled burst of speed and reached for his shield.

The feathers were just above them. "Get beneath me!"

A mere five meters until impact and they would all be punctured to death.

He picked it up and brought it above his head. Blake and Ruby huddled as closely to him as they could and the sound of feathers spearing the ground reached their ears. With several jarring thuds he felt them hit and ricochet off his great grandfather's shield. After several seconds the attack ended and the only sound that could be heard was their erratic breathing.

"D-did we make it?" Ruby peaked around Jaune's shoulder and he could only nod numbly in response. A miniature garden of black feathers taller than they were surrounded them. If one of those had hit them it would have skewered them completely through. In other words, they had almost died...again.

"That's the sixth time this day that I really thought I was going to bite the dust." Jaune's knees wobbled and he would have lost his balance if not for Blake and Ruby still clinging tightly to him.

"You're keeping count?" Ruby sounded surprised and that caught Jaune off guard. Wasn't it kind of common to count every time you thought you were going to die? It made living seem so much more worth it when you thought of all the horrible, violent deaths you had nearly been through...okay, maybe it wasn't all that normal. Or healthy.

"I don't think it's realized we survived yet." Blake brought them back on track as she finally stepped away from the protection of Jaune's shield to view the Nevermore. "It's flying rather awkwardly. I think it's trying to debunk its passenger."

"We gotta get up there and save her!" Ruby ran a couple paces away and knocked down some of the feathers as she tried to determine the best way to get back on to it.

"We need a way to bring it down to us." Jaune mumbled. He lowered his shield and raised a hand to his chin. "If we could just clip it's wings we could finish it off on the ground…" He trailed off as he thought of ways to do that. If they could just get one of them up there while the others distracted it, that person along with Weiss could each damage a wing enough for it to collapse.

"Looks like you've got a plan?" Blake pulled him out of his thoughts and he nodded.

"I'm going to hate this but can you get it's attention, Ruby? We need to get it as low to the ground as possible. I'll hop on it and together with Weiss will bring it down. Once it's on the ground it'll be up to you two to finish it off." He expected them to rebuke his plan on the spot so was utterly shocked when he got the reactions that he did.

"Aye, aye." Ruby saluted and she pulled out her weapon which was still in gun form.

"You're going to need your sword if you're going to do anything." Blake pulled it out from behind her back and handed it to him.

He stared at it in disbelief. It had been on the ground on the other side of the clearing last he had seen it. "When did you-"

"I've got quick reflexes."

Before he could ask further, Ruby began shooting and the Nevermore responded with an angry screech. It turned back to them and once again descended. "Welp, I've got its attention! Now how do you plan to get up there?" That was actually a great question. He hadn't exactly thought that far ahead. But he had already pitched the idea and they were running with it. He had to get onto it. There was no other option.

"I don't suppose your cloning ability could be used to give me a boost?" He looked to Blake hopefully and she gave him a nod. He sighed in relief and turned to see how close the Nevermore was. They had to time this just right. It had to be low enough for them to get to it but not so low it would launch another barrage at them.

"Climb on." Blake did the most peculiar thing he had seen her do yet and squatted down in front of him.

"Huh?"

"Get on my back. I'm going to get you up there." Did she mean like a piggy-back ride? He had just kind expected Blake to throw him or something with some clone assistance. This wasn't what he had in mind. "It's getting closer. If you don't hurry we're gonna have to wait for it to circle back around." Those words prompted him into action and with a huge blush on his face he climbed on her back. His chest rested behind her shoulders and his head peaked just over her right. His forelegs were gripped tightly by her arms and she stood up straight.

"I-I'm not too heavy, am I?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." That was probably for the best. Normally, their roles were supposed to be reversed and she would be asking that question to which he would suavely tell her she was light as a feather.

This was just embarrassing.

"You guys might want to hurry! It's coming in hot!" Ruby continued to fire at it, keeping its attention on her.

"Ready?"

"Not really." Jaune was starting to feel sick as he looked at how high the Nevermore still was. What if he missed it? What if he fell off? He had survived one fall today and hadn't ever planned on having to do that same thing again.

Blake rolled her eyes at him. "Here we go." He didn't have the time to protest as she jumped in the air higher than should have been physically possible. He looked down to see she had kicked off a clone. When they reached the arc of her jump, they were miraculously propelled even higher by a seemly invisible force. In the place they had just been was another clone. She was creating clones and using them as stepping stones to ascend?

He let himself get caught up in amazement as she bounced them high above the treeline. It was once they were about double that length up that the novelty of the ability wore off and he realized they were suddenly very, very high. In fact, they were high enough to be even with the Nevermore. Ruby was a tiny speck on the ground.

"I've changed my mind! I'll fight it after it's grounded! You take it up here! Just get me down from here!" He clung to Blake for dear life and could have swore he heard her sigh but decided it was just the wind. It was pretty breezy up here after all.

"Sorry, Jaune. You're dealing with the Schnee Heiress." She grabbed him by the elbows now that they were high enough above the Nevermore. He didn't like this one bit. "Good luck." With the finesse of a pro wrestler she broke his hold on her and chucked him directly towards the giant Grimm.

"Blake!" He screamed like a girl as he entered freefall. He turned to see her using her clones to bring herself back towards the ground. Why couldn't his Aura let him do something like that? It didn't matter now anyways. He was on his own. He turned back to the Grimm fearfully and prepared himself for what he had to do.

The wind beat viciously at his eyes but it wasn't anything he hadn't already dealt with before. He'd gotten through this type of thing once and he could do it again. His target was much higher off the ground...and was a violent monster hell-bent on destroying humanity. Okay, he'd handled that before too. Now he just had to handle those two things together this time. Falling and fighting Grimm...great.

That was if he landed on it at all. He realized with fear that he wasn't getting nearly close enough to it. He had to find a way to slow down his fall so he would have enough time to make it closer. So he extended his arms and legs and let the wind grab him. It worked a little but not enough. He still wasn't going to make it! If he missed there was only the clearing beneath him too. He would die. Unless Blake caught him?

All these thoughts became irrelevant as he landed smack on what he could only call a platform. "What the heck?" He pushed down on it and found it felt as sturdy as glass but somehow managed to not hurt at all when he had hit it. It was a white circle with what looked like a snowflake filling out the middle.

"Jump you dunce!" That sounded like Weiss. He turned to see the Nevermore just starting to pass under him. He didn't need to be told twice and for the first time time that day willingly made the jump. He only fell half a dozen meters before landing on the back of the Nevermore, right next to Weiss. "What were they thinking when they sent you up here to help me?" She cried in appallment as she gave him the most disgusted look she was probably capable of.

"No need to thank me Snow Angel. I volunteered to save you myself." He gave her his most charming smile and felt one of his teeth give off a twinkle as it reflected the sunlight.

"My hero." She responded sarcastically. "I hope this means you at least have a plan to get us down?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." He paused for dramatic effect which she responded to by glaring at him. "We clip its wings."

Weiss continued to glare at him as she waited for him to continue. When it was obvious that he wouldn't she finally said something. "That's your big plan? You know the feathers of a Giant Nevermore are among the sturdiest defenses known to Grimm? Not just any blade can cut it. Myrtenaster might be able to if I use fire but that's only one wing. We'll spiral out of control if you can't hold up your end."

"You're just gonna have to trust me. They're waiting down there for us to ground it." He was beginning to have his doubts about this plan now too, but they were already here. The more they delayed the more danger they put Ruby and Blake in. For their sake he had to do this.

Weiss seemed to reach the same conclusion and sighed rather loudly. "Fine. If we die though I'm blaming you!" With that she began crawling her way towards the right wing. He made his way towards the left one. It took both of them only a couple seconds despite the force of the wind threatening to knock them off at any second. Once he was in position, right where the wingbone met the body, he turned to see if Weiss had made it too. She had.

They nodded at one another and pulled out their respective blades. He watched carefully as she raised the hilt of her sword above her head, the blade pointed down. He mimicked the action. Her sword began glowing red and she took the plunge, sinking it into the Giant Nevermore's flesh. It screamed out in pain so loudly Jaune had to fight the urge to cover his ears. Instead he followed suite and brought his sword down...only for it to be deflected off of the feathers.

That wasn't good.

"Uh oh." He grabbed onto the feathers for support and not a moment later they began to spiral out of control. The wing Weiss had cut bent back unnaturally and no longer supported the Nevermore properly and instead acted as a hindrance to its balance.

"I thought you said you had it!" Weiss screamed as she was nearly flung off her side. She had barely grabbed ahold in time. To make matters worse, they were careening wildly and there was no way she was going to make it to this side to repeat what she had done.

"Technically, I only told you to trust me!" He regretted shouting. All the twisting and flailing the avian-Grimm was doing was starting to cause his motion-sickness to act up.

"Do something you dunce or we're both going to die!" She was right. He fought back the urge to barf and looked at the spot he had failed to stab earlier and made another attempt. It came out weak and sloppy as he couldn't get a good angle with all the constant twisting and turning. For a second they flipped upside down and he saw they were getting uncomfortably close to the ground. They flipped back upright and he nearly lost his grip and got separated from it.

"Jaune!" Weiss sounded rather pleading now.

"Damn…" Jaune grit his teeth and focused on his blade. This thing had been through countless battles. It had killed humans and Grimm alike. Some much more fearsome than this thing. Yet in his hands it was just an old relic. A hand-me-down that he didn't even deserve. He actually felt kind of bad for it. Did it hate him for ending up in his incapable hands? What was he thinking? The sword couldn't feel anything, let alone think for itself. People could though, and he had people counting on him to do something right now.

As he continued to stare at the sword a blue glyph formed at the bottom of the hilt, right above where his hand held it. It looked like the one that had saved him from falling earlier only much smaller. He looked to Weiss to see her nodding at him. "Do it! That glyph will add the force to your strike that you need! Just please get us outta this situation!"

Jaune nodded and realigned himself once again, which was still really difficult. He brought the sword up and drove it down. At first he met the same resistance as before, but after a moment his sword seemed to push in on its own thanks to Weiss' glyph and he sliced into the tendon.

The Grimm lost control of this wing now too and it naturally straightened itself out as both wings flapped back at an unnatural angle. It was just in the nick of time as they felt it crash into the ground and slide across it for several hundred meters. Trees were bowled over in its wake, causing hunks of bark, leaves, and branches to rain down on top of the two aspiring students.

Once it did skid to a stop, Jaune found himself wondering if it was already dead only for it to let out a horrible screech again which told him it wasn't. He and Weiss quickly got to their feet but that turned out to be a poor decision as the Nevermore also chose this moment to stand up. They were flung from its back and onto the hard dirt trail it had left from its excursion across the earth. It turned around and glared angrily at them. It's wings hung limply at its sides. Unfortunately for the two of them, they could only groan in pain as they tried to recover from their tumble.

"Now, Blake!" Ruby yelled as she appeared to the right of the Nevermore's head. Blake appeared to the left. They swung their weapons simultaneously into its neck. Jaune watched in awe as they seemed to be suspended in midair as they attempted to cut through it. They screamed loudly in exertion as their weapons snapped through all at once. They met in the middle and their weapons clashed, popping the Nevermore's head clean off and sending it falling...right towards where Weiss and Jaune were.

"Ah man!" Jaune scrambled to his feet and dove for Weiss who was still lying on the ground. He barely reached her in time but managed to roll them both away from the severed head. It hit the ground with a loud thud, followed only a moment later by its body as it toppled over. He looked at the dead Grimm with wide-eyes as he gasped desperately for breath and gripped Weiss against him.

"Weiss…" Jaune poked the heiress that was laying unmoving on top of him. "...you okay?" His answer was an uppercut to the chin.

"Am I okay!?" She shrieked as she quickly scrambled off of him and got to her feet. "Do I look okay to you!?"

"I'd say you look fine." Blake answered as she landed nimbly next to her. "Rather chipper actually for having just been on a Nevermore for an extended period of time."

"Yeah...sorry again about that, Weiss." Ruby hid behind Blake's back and nervously waved at her partner.

Weiss clicked her teeth and attempted to glare at Ruby from around Blake. "At least he came up there and didn't abandon me. Unlike a certain partner of mine."

"I told you to jump! You could've caught yourself with your glyphs!" Ruby attempted to defend herself.

"And have put ourselves at the mercy of it's Raining Feathers? I think not!"

"Oh, so you knew it could do that..." Ruby deflated but immediately perked back up. "But it worked out in the end, right? I even found our teammates after I landed."

"More like you landed on your teammates." Blake recalled rather fondly the moment Jaune tried to catch her and only half-succeeded.

"I'm gonna be sick." Jaune interrupted their discussion as he finally managed to crawl to his hands and knees only to puke his breakfast all over the ground.

"Vomit-boy returns!"

"Shut it, Crater-face."

He managed to grumble that before he heaved and spilled more of the contents of his stomach.

"Huh, that's actually fairly clever...and accurate." Weiss seemed to appreciate the nickname Jaune had given Ruby. That made him a little happy.

Blake walked up to him and rubbed his back comfortingly. "You did good up there."

He responded with a derisive laugh and wiped his mouth clean. "Weiss is the one who did everything. I wouldn't have even landed on it if she hadn't caught me. Let alone it was thanks to her that I managed to cut its wing."

Blake opened her mouth to respond but Weiss beat her to it. "You did fine. I told you that Giant Nevermore feathers are tough. Even with my aide it was a miracle you managed to hold up your end." He wasn't sure that made him feel better.

"What she's trying to say is that without you up there, she wouldn't have been able to cut the other wing at all. Take some credit. It was your plan and in the end you helped see it through. Even if I did have to force you to go out there once we were in the air." Was that really alright though? Maybe it would have been better if Blake or Ruby had taken his spot. But no, he wouldn't have been able to aide in cutting it's head off. Was he just worthless no matter which end he was on?

He then heard the familiar ping as all four of their scrolls updated. He was starting to hate that noise. He didn't even bother pulling it out to read it. Not when he felt ready to puke again at any moment.

Blake pulled her scroll out and read it aloud for him. "Congratulations Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee. You have successfully formed a team and are ready to face your final task. Located in Forever Fall is an old, abandoned airbase. Make your way to it before sundown tomorrow. There will be an airship waiting for you there. Board it to be lifted back off to Beacon. If you do not get on it you will be left behind and needn't return to the Academy. Best of luck. Try not to antagonize anymore big Grimm."

"Great. No pressure at all there." He really did not like the idea of being left behind.

"The map to the base is included in the message." Blake flipped her scroll around so Jaune could see it. It looked quite far away. Getting to Forever Fall alone was going to take them until nightfall at best. Then it looked like they had to hike a full days worth just to reach the airbase.

"We'd better set out at once if we're to have any hope of making it in time." Weiss took point and set off.

"Wait for me, partner!" Ruby dashed after her, leaving a trail of rose petals behind.

"You fit to travel?" Blake gently helped Jaune get back to his feet.

"I'm still feeling a little sick, but I think I'm done throwing up." He hated that he had to look so uncool in front of her. He knew it shouldn't have mattered as she'd already seen him mess up plenty of times in the short amount of time they had been together, but this felt worse than all that.

"You have to quit beating yourself up in your head." She patted his shoulder and he shifted uncomfortably. Was he being that obvious about it? "The answer to the question you just thought is yes." That answered that.

"Sorry," Jaune rubbed the back of his head as he tried to find the words. "My dad always said just be confident. Chicks dig confidence. The more this test goes on though the more I feel like I don't actually belong here."

"You belong here, Jaune." Blake locked eyes with him and he could see she was being serious but that only made him feel more guilty. She didn't know about his transcripts.

"You guys coming?" Ruby called back to them.

"We need to go. We're on a schedule after all." Blake's gaze lingered on him a little longer than necessary before she nodded to the younger girl and jogged over.

"Right." Jaune mumbled as he followed after them.

He had to at least pass this final test first.

He could decide his future here after he made sure they all still had one.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>I decided to change the description of the story. Last one felt a little too vague to me but I'm not sure this one is much better. At the very least I feel it gives people a little more accurate description on how this fic begins. Regardless of what the description is, if you've come this far then you must be here cause the story is turning out okay. Thanks again to everyone that has favorited/followed/reviewed this story. I really wasn't expecting such an overwhelming response for my first fic so that makes me really happy and definitely helps my motivation. I seriously didn't think I was going to devote as much time to writing as I do right now.

Next time...Jauney-boy has got issues and the only one that can help him is Blake! That is...if her own issues don't get in the way first!


	4. Secrets

**Auburn**

_Chapter 4 - Secrets_

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><p>"Blake! A little help!" Jaune cried desperately for his partner's assistance as he sprinted fullforce through the Forever Fall forest. No less than four Beowulfs were hot on his tail.<p>

"I'm a little busy here!" Blake had just barely dodged decapitation by her own Beowulf. She stabbed it in the gut and it dropped but when she turned around she had another two running at her. She wasn't going to be able to help.

"Weiss!? Ruby!?" He looked desperately for his other two teammates but was disheartened to see them completely surrounded by at least a dozen Beowulfs of their own. This was getting ridiculous. They had only entered into Forever Fall fifteen minutes ago. Fifteen minutes and it was already becoming almost impossible to make any progress without alerting at least one Grimm, let alone a group of them.

"You got this, Jaune!" Ruby called happily from within her entrapment and waved at him. She was freaking enjoying this.

"I really don't think I do!" Jaune ran around the side of a tree. It was just in time as a beowulf lunged passed where he had just been running. It likely would've taken a nice chunk out of his head had he still been there. That had been close. He thought this too soon as one of the others ripped right through the tree he had been hiding behind.

It lunged at him and he ducked down and held his shield above his head. It collided with it and slid right over him, crashing violently into the ground. He spun and stabbed it in the head. "Ha! I got one!" He attempted to pull his sword out but it remained wedged in its skull. "Oh come on!" He didn't have time to fight for it as the other two charged him at the same time. So with great reluctance he abandoned his sword to its skull and spun around, swinging his shield in a mad bash as he did. It got the Beowulf in the side of the head and stunned it.

The other attempted to take a bite of his arm and he shoved the shield directly into its mouth. "Why don't you chew on this!" He elbowed it on the top of it's mussel and forced it to bite down on the shield. The force of the blow shattered the Beowulf's teeth. It yelped and began to run away in fear. He turned to the other one and it backed off slightly. "You want some of this?!" He held his arms out and screamed as intimidatingly as he could at it. The fear in its eyes was palpable even to him and it took off running. "That's what I thought!" He couldn't believe it. He had made it back off.

"Jaune! Behind you!"

"Huh?" He turned around to see that the Beowulf hadn't run from him at all...rather it ran from the sight of an Alpha Beowulf. It had locked its eyes on Jaune and no other dared go for the prey of their Alpha. "Oh...hey there, big guy." Jaune took an awkward step backwards. "That wasn't your buddy's teeth I just broke, was it? Cause I mean, if it was I'm really sorry about that. Heat of the moment. He technically started it."

"Jaune! Don't talk to it! Run!"

"Right!" He took another step back and once again attempted to pull his sword out of the dead Beowulf's skull. "Well, I have to go. Lovely chatting with you-" He let out a high pitched scream as it roared and lunged at him.

His sword finally pulled loose and he held it in front of himself as the giant Grimm descended upon him.

* * *

><p>"Jaune!" Blake hacked through two more Beowulfs just in time to see the Alpha tackle him to the ground. "No, no! Jaune!" She sprinted up to where the Beowulf laid on top of him, prepared to kill it and shove it off the moment she was in range. To her surprise it looked like the big Grimm wasn't moving. It wasn't eating Jaune or clawing his face off...in fact, it wasn't even breathing. "Jaune…?" She couldn't see her partner at all and feared the worst for him.<p>

"I'm okay! I think?" Relief washed over her as she heard his voice. She immediately attempted to roll the Beowulf off but couldn't due to its massive size.

"I'll help!" Ruby jogged up and together they rolled it off, revealing a shivering Jaune and his sword in the Grimm's throat.

"Is it over?" He looked around skeptically for another one to come running at them but Ruby looked completely composed. Blake took this opportunity to peek around the forest too and saw that the rest were fleeing.

"I think it is." Blake knelt next to him and put a hand behind his back, lifting him to a sitting position. "Thanks to you killing the Alpha the rest ran scared. Good job." He blushed at her praise.

"It looked like dumb luck to me." Blake turned to glare at Weiss who was walking up to them, carefully avoiding any Grimm limbs on the ground as she did. "If he wasn't so incompetent, we probably wouldn't have had that much trouble with them to begin with."

"You don't need to say all that to him." Blake's hair bristled and her bow twitched as she got to her feet to glare at Weiss.

The heiress met her eyes pointedly. "I'm only saying the truth. Those Beowulfs should have been a synch for us all of us, but four of them had him running all over the place screaming. It's his fault we attracted as many as we did."

"Guys, let's not fight." Ruby darted between the two of them and held her hands up defensively.

"She's the one picking a fight." Blake pointed an accusatory finger at Weiss.

"No, she's right." All three of them turned to see Jaune looking down at the ground, dejectedly. "I lost my cool and nearly got us all killed. Sorry."

"Y-You don't know for sure it was your fault!" Ruby jumped in to defend him but her words sounded anything but helpful. "What I mean to say is...umm...look, it's getting late out. The sun will be setting soon so naturally the Grimm are going to be more active. Not to mention we're in Forever Fall. There are way more Grimm out here. It was probably inevitable that we fought that many. Right?" She looked to Blake for reassurance.

"She's right. You don't need to be so hard on yourself. You're the one that killed the Alpha in the end." Blake crouched back down and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder, hoping the contact would reassure him. He didn't raise his head to look at her. He continued to stare blankly at the ground. She bit her lip as she tried to think of something else to say to him.

Weiss interrupted her train of thought. "Look, what's done is done. We need to get a view from overtop of the trees so we can determine our best course of action. Belladonna, you seem to have the best reflexes, think you can get up there?"

Blake clicked her teeth, stood up, and took a step away from Jaune. He didn't move. Something was seriously bothering him but she couldn't fathom what. She turned to Ruby and met her eyes. A silent conversation passed between them and she knew Ruby would keep an eye on Jaune and see if she could get him to say something while she checked their surroundings. "I'll be right back." She announced to them as she walked to the nearest tree and scaled it with ease. Once at the top she perched herself up there and scanned the orange horizon.

The sun was nearly setting on the first day of their initiation, just like Ruby had said earlier. They were also quite definitely in Forever Fall. The change had been quite dramatic. The green leaves and grass of the Emerald forest turned stark red the moment they entered Forever Fall. They still had a lot of ground to cover if they were going to have any chance of making it time. They had until about this time tomorrow or they were going to fail and be kicked out from Beacon.

She grimaced as she saw several of the red trees shake violently in the distance. Likely a pack of Grimm she figured. Odds of them running into any other students out this far were pretty slim. That is if they were even given the same destination. With a long sigh, she began descending the tree to where her teammates waited. With cat-like reflexes she made it to the ground in only a couple seconds.

"Well, what did you see?" Weiss glared at her with crossed arms and tapped her foot impatiently. Blake's eyes narrowed at the heiress. She had pretty much assumed command since their trek had begun and Blake was beginning to get sick of her bossy attitude and better-than-thou demeanor.

She turned to Ruby who only shook her head. The younger girl hadn't made any progress with Jaune, but he was at least standing now. She was going to worry about him again in a minute. For now she turned her attention back to Weiss. "The Grimm are becoming much more active. It's going to become almost impossible to move without running into them soon. We should probably find a place to set up camp before we lose the light."

"Hmm…" Weiss rubbed her chin as she pondered Blake's words. "I suppose you're right. We'll need our strength for tomorrow. No sense fighting those things when they're at their most dangerous. Did you see anything that could pose as shelter? Maybe a cliff-side with caves?"

Blake shook her head. "Nothing but forest around us as far as I could tell. I think I saw a path in the trees that could have been for a river though." She hated to admit it but she was a little relieved about that. The last time she had been in a cave it had nearly killed her. She wasn't exactly rearing to enter another one anytime soon.

"A river wouldn't be bad. At the very least it would cut off half of the direction we could be attacked from without warning." Weiss seemed to find this acceptable.

"Plus we can catch some fish! I'm starving!" Ruby's stomach growled in agreement with her own statement and Blake felt her own stomach groan in response. Food was definitely a promising thought. They had eaten almost nothing since they entered the forest except for a few berries they had found. Had she known they would be spending the night in the wild she would have prepared more supplies. This was all probably another part of the test though. Hunters had to be prepared for anything and it was entire possible they would find themselves in this situation out in the field one day: forced to fend for themselves with little to no supplies.

"It's settled then. Let's find this river. Which way, Belladonna?" Weiss once again resumed command but Blake only responded by gesturing in the direction they had to go. She had other things to worry about other than Weiss' self-appointed leadership. One of those being the aching of her stomach. The other...was obviously, her partner.

As they made their way towards the river she had time to ponder what it could be that was bothering him to the point that he would look so dejected. It couldn't really be because of Weiss' cruel words earlier? No, that couldn't be right. It may have been what reopened the wound but she felt his concerns ran far deeper than that. It had all really started after the Nevermore fight...maybe even before that when they fought Cardin and Russel. She wasn't sure anymore. All she knew was he was having serious self-esteem issues.

She considered asking him but couldn't bring herself to do it. What right did she have to push him into revealing himself to her? She wasn't capable of doing the same to him. He still hadn't asked about her night-vision and it was a great relief to her. She should extend the same courtesy to him...right? Then why? Why did it feel like she was only letting the problem grow by not confronting him about it? What did that say about her own secrets? It was a frustrating question only made worse by the fact that she had no answer.

They reached the river and she was no closer to an answer than when she started. If anything she was more confused. Great, stupid Jaune. His attitude was getting to her now too. She scowled at him as he cautiously approached the riverbank. It had quite the strong current and the rushing water created quite a bit of noise. That was both good and bad. On the one hand they should be able to openly converse without attracting any Grimm but on the same side of that coin they wouldn't be able to hear one approach them either.

"Don't fall in, you dunce!" Weiss called as Jaune got a little too close to the river. The red grass went right up to the edge and then seemed to cut away as if the river had gouged its way through the landscape. "What're you even doing that close?"

"Checking for fish! We're gonna have to get them up before the sun sets if we're gonna have any hope of eating tonight." Jaune's eyes squinted as he gazed at the sunset-dyed river. He was right. They didn't have long.

"Does anyone here actually know how to fish?" Weiss turned to her other two teammates. Ruby shook her head but Blake nodded in affirmation. She loved fishing. Rather, she loved the taste of fish.

"I do." Jaune also called in response.

"Excellent! You two catch us something to eat while Ruby and I will get a fire and some seats prepared for us!" Weiss clapped her hands as if it was the most wonderful idea she had yet. Blake wasn't so sure though. Fishing meant quietly sitting next to Jaune which inevitably meant talking. She wasn't sure she was ready to talk to him yet. She didn't know what to say.

"Everything okay between you two?" She had to fight every urge in her body to yelp in surprise. Ruby had stepped next to her and she hadn't even realized it. She must really be distracted by this if it was even effecting her awareness of her surroundings.

She considered lying to the younger girl but one look at her curious, silver eyes and Blake knew she couldn't do that. She couldn't tell her the whole truth either so she decided to at least go for half. "I just don't know what to do with him. I want to ask him about it but don't know how to without trampling on his feelings."

Her response caused Ruby to grin childishly at her but she couldn't imagine why. "I'm glad Jaune got a partner that cares so much about him. He's a good guy. Even if he doesn't realize it himself." She could say that again. "You don't have to ask him about anything at all. Just make him feel better by having him do stuff he's good at. He'll naturally talk about what's wrong on his own. I always did that with my big sis when she was feeling down. Works every time."

Blake titled her head as she considered Ruby's solution. It wasn't a bad idea but what exactly was Jaune good at? He had showed extraordinary talent under pressure but seemed to flounder helplessly otherwise at even the most mundane tasks. "What kind of things did you do to help your sister?"

"Normally I'd make her take me to the playground. Wasn't long before she starting beating the snot out of every other kid there." Ruby was already skipping away to help Weiss. Blake opened her mouth to call out to her but after a moment of deliberation she snapped it shut. This was something she and Jaune had to work out for themselves.

So with great reluctance she walked over to her partner. He sat crossed-legged on the ground and looked to be constructing something for them. It looked like a couple of spears that they would be using to skewer any fish that was unlucky enough to swim right by them. He had one complete and was sharpening the second with the tip of his sword. After several seconds he nodded in satisfaction at the spear and handed it to her with a small smile.

"Thanks." Blake accepted it and crouched down over the river. Jaune sat up and took a spot next to her, his own spear ready. To Blake's great delight there were a surprising amount of fish swimming through at the moment. Then again, maybe it wasn't too surprising. She doubted too many people came to this area to fish, what with it being infested with Grimm.

She took a stab and on her first try speared a fish dead in the center. She pulled it out and was absolutely thrilled to see salmon. Not as good as tuna but this would be just as delicious on her empty stomach.

"Got one!" Jaune yelled excitedly as he too skewered a fish of his own. This was going to be too easy for them at this rate. "We'll be able to catch enough for tomorrow like this." Blake couldn't help but smile as some life finally returned to her partner's eyes. Maybe this was all he needed? Ruby might have been on to something. It would only be a matter of time before Jaune opened up to her and told her whatever it was that had been troubling him.

And so she patiently waited.

They both caught another fish bringing them to four but Jaune didn't open his mouth to say anything.

He missed his next strike but she caught hers. More silence.

Their next tries ended up the opposite.

Fifteen minutes and about ten fish later.

The sun was nearly set and the last slivers of light were glistening off the river.

Still nothing from him.

Her patience was wearing thin and he didn't look ready to say a single damn thing! Ruby said it worked every time so why wasn't anything happening?

The sun sank below the horizon and they were cast into a light-purple darkness. Her eyes adjusted quickly enough. Jaune, not being able to see into the river anymore, stood up and stretched. "Well, I think that's it for me. We got a pretty good haul. Let's see what Weiss and Ruby got going."

"You're not going to tell me what's wrong?" She blurted out without thinking. She couldn't stand this anymore. She had never been in a situation like this before and the uncertainty of what to do had finally caused her to snap. How could he do this to her? The first person she felt she could trust in a long time and he was shutting her out and burying his emotions from her.

He turned and looked at her questioningly. "What're you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking out." She was sure to keep her voice down so as not to alert their other teammates and rose to her feet. She made eye-contact even though she knew he could barely see hers without the aide of the sun. "You've been in this funk for awhile and no matter what, I can't figure out why. What's going on with you?"

He averted his gaze and shuffled awkwardly to the side. He seemed to fumble for words as he scratched the back of his head nervously. Finally, he seemed to settle on some words but refused to look her in the eyes as he spoke. "It's nothing. I'll tell you about it after we pass tomorrow."

"It's anything but nothing." She snapped and felt her hair bristle slightly as she got more angry. "And if you don't snap out of whatever it is that's got you down there might be a chance we don't pass tomorrow. Just today took all of our combined skills to survive and if you're not giving it your best tomorrow we might just not pull through. You don't want to let someone die just because you're too scared to talk about what's bugging you, do you?"

"I'm telling you I don't want to talk about it!" Jaune finally looked back and Blake saw a small hint of anger in his eyes and could feel it in his voice. "You can't understand what I'm going through, so butt off!" Her eyes widened and she grit her teeth so hard she could actually hear them grinding together.

She can't understand? Who the hell did he think he was? She probably understood better than anyone what it was like to harbor a secret that was constantly weighing down on you. That affected every move you made. In fact, it was he that didn't understand one bit. She kept her secrets in check while he let his bring him down. "Fine." She growled at him and turned on her heel. "Solve your own damn problem. Just don't let it get me killed." She scooped up her share of the fish and walked over to where Weiss and Ruby waited.

"Don't worry! I won't!" Jaune called after her before she heard him do the same.

She approached the modest campfire that they had prepared for them. Four logs were positioned around it, creating makeshift benches for them to use. Ruby and Weiss sat on one end while two logs were positioned next to each other on the other end.

"About time." Weiss huffed as Blake passed by her and went to her log. "We've even prepared the sticks to cook over. I hope you caught enough."

"We caught plenty." Blake let her anger from her fight with Jaune carry into her response but she didn't feel the least bit bad about it. She was sick of it all. Sick of Weiss and her stupid self-appointed leadership, sick of Jaune and his issues, sick of this forest, sick of hiding in plain sight. She grabbed the sticks Weiss had mentioned and planted the fish above the fire to cook before shifting a log away from the other one. She couldn't sit next to him right now.

"What's her problem?" Weiss crossed her arms and glared at Jaune as he entered into the light cast from the fire. Ruby merely glanced nervously between the two of them.

"Beats me." Jaune began placing his own fish over the fire to cook. He didn't make eye-contact with anyone as he did. "Maybe you should ask her?" He finished and plopped down on his own log and proceeded to glare into the fire.

Weiss leaned to Ruby to whisper but Blake's enhanced hearing pick up what she said without any trouble. "Did I miss something or did they just have a fight?" Ruby could only shrug helplessly so Weiss turned her attention back to Blake. "If he did anything to sexually harass you-"

"Nothing like that happened!" The fact that she would even suggest that infuriated her more. "Just stay out of it!" Great, now she was sounding like Jaune.

"Well whatever it is that caused this you two need to settle it soon. Grimm feed on negative emotion and if they swarm this place tonight because of you two, I'm going to be very, very upset." Weiss snatched up her cooked fish and took an angry bite out of it. The others all grabbed their own fish and they began eating in silence.

Blake hated this. The fish which she loved so much tasted like nothing more than ash in her mouth and every time she swallowed it felt like a rock hit the bottom of her stomach, only adding to the dense weight she felt down there. This was a horrible, ugly feeling she had. One she was all too familiar with: regret.

She had come to regret a lot of things in life but she hadn't expected to come to Beacon and experience it on her second night here. Much more over some boy she had only met that morning. Why did she feel so strongly in regards to him? If she had to put it into words...it would be because he had become the symbol for the start of her new life. Without even realizing it she had transformed him into something more than what he was in her mind.

When she had first arrived here she hadn't expected to make bonds with anyone. But then they entered that cave together. In that cave, an all but blind human had charged to his death to save her life. He had thrown all caution to the wind and while it had been a brutal struggle, they had emerged alive and better for it. That cave had formed their bond.

Then she thought he had died. When Cardin's mace had enveloped him in an explosion and he had been blasted into a tree she had thought beyond a shadow of a doubt he was a goner. The feelings that brought out in her...had been enlightening, to say the least. She realized at that moment that she thought of Jaune as more than a partner, but as a friend.

Friend...that was a weird word. She didn't really have anyone she could call a friend before now. She had her mentor, but that had been different. The other members of her old organization...they were simply comrades with which she shared the same cause. None of them were friends. They weren't people who would throw their lives away to protect you. Maybe for the good of their race, but not for you as an individual. Was that what it was that made Jaune different to her? He was someone that respected the individual. He embodied what it was that she sought to become as a Huntress...even if his skills were severely lacking.

So it was no wonder she would be filled with regret. The symbol she had built in her head turned out to be nothing more than a normal, human boy; Filled with all the flaws of a normal, human boy.

"Alright. Seeing as everyone is done eating, we need to set up sleeping and watch arrangements." Weiss' words broke her from her deep reservoir. She was surprised to notice that she had in fact finished her fish already and the others were already wrapped up to be preserved for tomorrow.

"Arc." She addressed him first. "You'll be given the last watch. Also, try to sleep as far away from us girls as possible without putting yourself outside of this sanctuary. I don't want anything unscrupulous going on tonight. About fifteen meters away from any of us should be satisfactory." She then turned to Blake. "I think you should take first watch. After about two and a half hours choose either Ruby or myself to take over for you. We'll guard the middle of the night. Seeing as none of us are those lowly Faunus and don't have night-vision we'll have to be extra wary of any subtle noises. Anything at all should be treated as a threat."

"Wait, what?" Jaune perked up from his spot and looked at Weiss with wide-eyes. If it was possible, Blake felt her heart sink even lower.

"Use your ears, you dunce. You can't see out there, can you?"

"No, before that. About the Faunus." Yep, she was screwed. Her life her was over.

"Faunus. They have night vision. Don't you know anything?" He shifted a glance to Blake and she shrunk in her seat. He had found out! Was he gonna expose her right here, in front of Weiss and Ruby? She didn't doubt it after the fight they had just had. She had tried to expose his secret and in the end had her own thrown in his face. It was almost poetic justice for him now.

His gaze shifted slowly off of her and back to Weiss. He opened his mouth.

Here it came.

She knew hiding out here without anyone knowing was too good to be true. "Well, I'm pretty tired. I'm gonna head this way. Don't wanna make you too uncomfortable, Snow Angel." He winked at her and walked off into the darkness.

"Wh- H-How dare you!" Weiss sputtered after him and Ruby broke into a fit of laughter. Blake merely sat there in shock.

He hadn't told? Why? Was it possible he really didn't figure it out? No. He wasn't that dense. The reason he hadn't figured it out already was because he hadn't known about Faunus night-vision. Now though...he knew and yet he chose not to say anything. She stood up from her spot and took a step towards him. The others couldn't see it but he had already laid down in the darkness, using his hoodie as a pillow.

"Where do you think you're going? It's your watch." Weiss' words stopped her cold in her tracks. She couldn't talk to him now. Not with those two still awake. She had to wait. However, she was supposed to relieve one of them when her shift was over. She wouldn't have a chance to wake Jaune and talk to him. It might be awhile before she could ask him why. She clicked her teeth and walked away from the river and towards the forest. She scaled the first tree she could and perched herself in a branch that gave her a perfect view of the dark wilderness ahead of her.

Her ears twitched as they picked up all the sounds around them. She could hear some of the Grimm actively hunting but they weren't anywhere near them so they should be fine. She heard the two girls put out the fire and curl up next to one another for sleep. It wasn't likely going to be a comfortable sleep either. Still, they seemed to fall asleep rather quickly if the steady rhythm of their breathing was any indication. It had been an exhausting day after all and she couldn't blame them. Once it was her turn she was sure she would pass out almost immediately as well.

The sound of a twig snapping beneath her caused her to jump and instinctively reach for her blade. She looked down to see it was only Jaune who was looking around anxiously for her. He wasn't asleep! He took another couple steps but it would be impossible for him to find her where she was without assistance. This forest was much too dark and she was perched quite high. "Jaune!" She gave a hushed yell and his head snapped upwards and to her location.

He gave her a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head. "Is it...is it alright if I come up there with you? I'd like to talk."

She nodded before remembering he couldn't see. "I'd like to talk too."

A look of relief washed over his face and he began walking along the tree, trying to find the shortest branch for him to grab ahold of. "Whoa!" He tripped on a root and nearly fell but managed to maintain his balance. Finally, he found a branch but had to jump for it. It took him several tries but finally he managed to hoist himself up. Then, slowly but surely he made his way up the tree and closer to her. Every once in awhile she'd give him a minor direction and eventually he got to a branch just below hers and to the left.

While her branch jutted completely away from the river, his ran parallel to it. They both sat with their backs to the trunk of the tree. She let several full minutes go by before she wondered why he had come up at all if he wasn't going to talk to her. In that time, the clouds shifted away and the shattered moon cast a white light on the two of them. His head turned slightly and he looked up at her. She was already looking back at him. Their eyes made contact and she knew the time to talk was that moment.

"Why didn't you tell them?" It was eating at her and she had to know.

"Yeah...about that." Jaune lowered his eyes for a minute before bringing them up to meet her's again. "I owe you an apology." What was he talking about? He hadn't spilled her secret to them so why was he apologizing? "I said too much earlier when I told you that you couldn't possibly understand how I feel. As it turns out, I was the one that didn't understand you."

Oh yeah, there was that. She had already pushed that behind her with this latest fear of her being exposed on her mind. Their whole argument came crashing back and she felt overwhelmed by guilt. She had been the one trying to push him outside of his comfort zone and here he was apologizing to her. "We both said things we didn't mean."

Jaune shook his head. "No, you were completely in the right back there and I was acting out of line. I should have told you about what was bugging me. Maybe if I had you would've felt confident enough to trust me with your secret. My mom always said secrets don't make friends and man, she wasn't kidding. I can't believe we got into it like that back there."

Blake was taken aback by his statement. "You still consider me a friend? Even knowing what I am?" She leaned forward so she could see his full face. She wanted to see it as he responded.

"Of course I do. Faunus? Human? Things like that don't matter. What matters is what's on the inside. Kind of similar to what you said earlier. About having a good heart and all that. I'm surprised you still considered me a friend; What with the miserable way humans treat Faunus and all." She felt herself choke back tears at his words. She had just been thinking awful things about him not more than a few minutes ago and here he was making her feel like a complete fool. Yet, she couldn't be happier about it. She was ecstatic to be able to talk to him again. Talk to him freely too. There was no longer anything left for her to hide from him. Well, there was one thing. She was already partly exposed, might as well come out completely.

"I…" She struggled to say the next part but knew she had too. "I used to be a member of the White Fang." His gaze turned to one of shock but she shook her head, hoping to cut off his questions. He didn't say anything so she felt free to continue. "I left because they became too extreme for me. The world they wanted was no longer the one of equality that I wished for. So I left and hid my identity as a Faunus when entering this academy. I wanted to do some good in this world...as a person. Not with a label on me."

Jaune didn't respond immediately, instead he only stared. Not once had they broken eye contact. She wondered if he hated her for half-a-second before dismissing the idea as ludicrous. She knew him better than that. "What kinda Faunus are you? I've never noticed any animal features on you so they must be pretty well hidden."

The question got a weak smile from her and she patted her bow. "I have cat ears under my bow. I may let you see them some day. Please don't ask me for awhile though. I...don't think I'm ready to take it off yet. I know this is a lot to ask but can I please have you keep my secret for me?" She eyed him fearfully for his response and he let out a tired sigh.

"How about an exchange?" She rose an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he meant. "I still haven't told you what's bothering me, remember?" That was true. It hardly seemed like a fair exchange though. Whatever was causing his inferiority complex couldn't possibly compete with what had just been revealed about her. She used to be in a criminal organization for crying out loud. But what choice did she have? The least she could do was hear him out.

"Okay. You can tell me. No matter what it is." She nodded her head and shifted herself on the branch. Her butt was starting to go numb from the hard bark.

Jaune opened his mouth to tell her but let out what sounded like a choked laugh. "Man, this is hard. I can't believe you just did this."

"Jaune..."

"Right, sorry." He let out a deep sigh. "I don't belong here at Beacon."

She waited for him to continue. He didn't.

That was it? That was his big secret?

"Jaune, you said that already. I told you that you're fine. You need to quit beating yourself up-"

"No, you don't understand. I actually don't belong here. I faked my transcripts. I got in by forgery." Oh.

Ooooooh.

That was actually...much more game-changing than she had expected. Suddenly his exchange held quite a bit more weight to it. While her secret would certainly draw unnecessary attention to herself, his would outright get him kicked out altogether. "That's...I'm not even sure what to say." She admitted as her brain tried to catch up. Maybe she was overcomplicating things? She didn't have to say anything or even think about it and he would keep her secret safe. That was the deal he had proposed. The results would be much worse for him if they were both exposed so she had no reason to decline. She hoped it wouldn't come to that as friends though. "Okay. You're on. I won't tell anyone provided you keep up your end."

Jaune gave her a small smile and nodded before stretching his limbs and yawning. "You might not have to worry long about me, anyways." She tilted her head at his statement. "I think once we pass this test I'm going to resign from Beacon."

"What?! Why?" She couldn't believe this. He had done so much to get in here. He had risked death numerous times and was just going to throw it all away? For what? A safe, cushy, life?

"I don't know what I was thinking." He shook his head sadly. "I wanted to help people. Who knew you had to be strong to do that? I'm not talented like the three of you. I don't have a suited-up weapon or some crazy semblance. I'm just an ordinary guy with an ordinary sword and shield. It's a miracle I haven't gotten you guys killed just for being with me. That's why I'm going to help you pass and then I'm gonna bow out. Make way for the real heroes."

"Jaune." She couldn't believe what she heard him say. "You're anything but ordinary." She couldn't stress this enough. "Do you know the number of amazing things you accomplished today? What's more, you accomplished those things without any kind of proper training at all! You didn't even have an aura for our first couple encounters!" She had to calm down. If she started yelling she risked waking up their sleeping teammates.

"Everything that happened was all you guys." She couldn't believe he seriously meant that.

"You held off half a King Taijitu long enough for me to defeat the other. You blocked the strike of a Deathstalker. A Deathstalker, Jaune! You blocked it with only the light of it's stinger to go off of in an environment that left you blind. Then, while still protecting me, you managed to kill it. Then you managed to half-carry me out of that cave as it collapsed around us. Even after you got hit by a rock in the head you kept going. Still no aura by the way. Do I even need to mention the Ursa? You took a head-on attack from that jerk-that-we-saved's mace. That explosion would've killed someone with a lesser Aura. Yours healed you enough for you to beat him down, without a weapon. It was your plan that we went with to defeat the Nevermore and you tackled Weiss out of the way when its head nearly crushed her. You killed an Alpha Beowulf in one strike. You're an incredible person." By the time she was done she was panting for breath.

Jaune's mouth hung agape at her tirade. He tried to formulate words of protest but seemed to be having trouble doing so. Finally, his mouth seemed to start working again. "Most of that was just because you guys helped-"

"That's what teammates do, Jaune. They help each other. We all did our part. That's why Hunters and Huntresses work together in teams. No one is perfect on their own. We need one another to rely on. Even an introvert like me knows that." She grinned coyly at him. "If it'll make you feel better about staying though, I'll start training you after we start classes. Getting you in better shape certainly wouldn't hurt our chances."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jaune waved his arms frantically in front of himself. "You're saying you want me to stay? Even knowing that I shouldn't have been let in at all? Even though you know that the people who know your secret is back down to zero when I'm gone?"

She stood on her branch and jumped down to his. He yelped in surprise but she paid it no mind as she crouched in front of him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I told you, Jaune. You're my friend. The last thing I want is for you to leave. I want you to stay at Beacon together with me."

A couple tears slid down Jaune's face as he stared at her in disbelief. It took him several seconds before he was able to respond. Slowly, he reached out and grabbed the hand that rested on his shoulder. His much bigger hand completely enveloped her smaller one. "I still don't feel like I deserve a partner as good as you, or teammates as amazing as Ruby or Weiss..." She frowned at him and thought about berating him some more, but he continued on. "...however, if you're willing to go that far to make me to stay then I have no choice but to take you up on your offer. I'll do whatever it takes to become the type of guy that deserves to stand at all your sides."

Blake could only give him a small smile in response. It wasn't much, but it was something. His confidence issues were clearly rooted quite deep. Still, as long as he stayed at Beacon, she could be there to help him. That was enough for now.

She turned back to the forest in front of them and sat down on the branch, letting her legs dangle in the air. Jaune mimicked the action and sat next to her so their arms and shoulders were touching. She didn't mind the proximity one bit.

She was just happy to have her friend back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>This chapter was so tricky for me that I wrote it twice. The first one I wrote entirely from Jaune's perspective. The second one (The one I went with) as you can see, was written from Blake's. The end differences between both versions was...enlightening, to say the least. It was really odd, when I wrote it from Blake's perspective, the whole conversation took a very different (and I felt much more natural) order. I guess I'll let you decide if you felt it all flowed well. It was my first chapter without a battle for a climax so I'm fairly interested in if it held up to the others for you.

Next time, the team makes it to their destination but a threat unlike anything they've ever faced stands before them. With time running out, Jaune makes good on his word to ensure the others pass...even if it means he won't.


	5. Overtime

**Auburn**

_Chapter 5 - Overtime_

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><p>Blake crept silently ahead of the rest of the group. Forever Fall was teeming with Grimm and it was getting harder and harder for them to transverse any ground without getting caught by a group of them. Their second day had been going for quite some time now and if she had to guess she would say they had three hours tops until they needed to be to this airship that was supposed to take them home. It was something that was totally feasible...if they could manage to quit fighting Grimm for awhile.<p>

Fortunately, she couldn't make out any in the red forest ahead of them. She turned around and waved the group forward. Weiss, Ruby, and Jaune all appeared from around behind trees they had been using as cover and jogged to her. Weiss and Ruby continued past but Jaune paused by her side and gave her a silent thumbs-up with a goofy smile.

She returned the smile and gently touched his forearm before they continued after their two teammates. She noticed Ruby give them a curious glance backwards as they continued on. She had every right to be questioning them. The last she had seen before going to bed the two of them hadn't been on talking terms. Now, the two of them seemed closer than ever.

Sharing their darkest secrets probably had something to do with it.

For that reason, they couldn't let Ruby or Weiss know what had really transpired between them the night before. She still wasn't sure what they would say when asked, but she would worry about things like that after they passed. For now, all her attention had to be devoted to the task at hand. So for the next fifteen minutes they crept forward in silence.

"Does it seem strangely quiet to anyone else?" It was Ruby that broke the silence that had claimed their group. They had been going by the unspoken rule of not saying anything for fear of alerting Grimm to their location but Ruby had a point. It was really quiet. Rather...it was downright silent. There wasn't a single breathing thing moving around them at all. Not birds in the sky, nor squirrels and other rodents bustling along the ground. She couldn't even hear the hum of insects that were an almost annoyingly constant presence.

"This isn't natural." Weiss seemed to agree with what Blake was thinking. The most disturbing part of all was that there weren't any Grimm. If there was something that even scared them away from the area...then they were in more than just a little bit of trouble.

"Does anyone else feel like we just entered the calm before the storm?" Leave it to Jaune to put it with as little delicacy as possible.

"Whatever it is, I don't like it one bit. We should make haste." Weiss skipped ahead before she broke into a light jog. Blake hated to admit it but for once she was in agreement with the Heiress.

"Come on, Jaune. We're getting out of here." She grabbed his wrist and took off running after her. A trail of rose petals told her that Ruby had dashed forward as well.

"What do you think it could be?" Jaune gasped for breath as she dragged him at a pace that was just almost too quick for him.

"I don't know and I don't want to know. We just need to get out of this red forest-" Her breath hitched as the trees broke away all at once and she was forced to skid to a stop before she ran smack into Weiss and Ruby. Together, the four of them stared in utter silence at the massive scenery that had opened up before them.

The lowering sun illuminated the landscape beautifully. Behind them was the edge of the forest which cut into the dense, red treeline they had just broken free from. Immediately ahead of them was a massive slope that slanted at a dangerous angle, leading them directly into the twisting wilderness hundreds of meters beneath them. Rolling rivers were visible for miles, only occasionally obstructed by pockets of orange and yellow trees. Where there weren't trees though there was lush, rich grass that looked so red it was almost as if it had been painted on by the deaths of hundreds of lives. However, none of this compared to the predominant feature of the landscape before them which were the dozens of twisting spires and flat mesas. Some of them appeared to extend several kilometers into the sky, as if they were attempting to stab at it. Two growing mountains to either side appeared to trap the peninsula in a gigantic fissure. Just beyond it all...was the endless blue sea.

"This is…" There were too many words Blake could use to describe it. This was land untouched by man, too far beyond their reach. It was beautiful and yet it was horrifying to look at. If she had to go with a description for it though, there was only one thing that properly came to mind. "...unlike anything I've ever seen."

Weiss snapped free from her stupor first and pulled out her scroll and began scanning her map. "The abandoned airbase is ahead of us...if I had to guess I would say it's on one of those big mesa. It's the perfect spot for them to attempt to establish a route out here."

"If it's so perfect why is it abandoned though?" Jaune brought up an excellent question. So much land was visible in front of them and yet Blake didn't spy a single Grimm. How could that be though? This far from civilization should be teeming with them. Why then did they have to abandon this airbase? Why didn't they attempt to cultivate this area? It didn't make sense.

"We can always ask them when we get there. We really need to keep moving though. I do not want to have to run back through that forest because we missed our flight." It was once again Weiss that egged the group forward and she began to slide down the slope that took them to the rolling landscape beneath them.

"This is something we would have never gotten to see if we hadn't decided to become Huntresses." Ruby took one last longing glance before she followed loyally after her partner.

"We're almost done. We can finally put this whole initiation behind us." Jaune grinned widely as he too started after them.

"Jaune, you need to listen to me." Blake took pace right by his side. "There is something very dangerous down there. No matter what happens, we need to stick together. Do you understand me?"

"Of course." Jaune nodded at her and continued to grin. He didn't look nearly as frightened about this as Blake felt he should be. "We've overcome so much already together. There isn't anything that the four of us can't beat together. I'm certain of it." For once, it was Jaune who was sprouting off lines of confidence. Not his fake bravado either; It was real, genuine confidence. Confidence in his teammate's and his own ability to handle whatever it was that came at them. Blake had to admit, it really suited him. His father might have been onto something when he told him that all a guy needed was confidence.

It took them nearly ten minutes just to reach the bottom of their first hill. Down here, the spires seemed much more imposing. It was impossible to see the tips of some of them as the clouds passed through them. The sound of the crashing rivers and roaring waterfalls were the only noise audible to them and the air...it smelled sickeningly sweet. Just what in the world was this place they had entered?

The blood-red grass was soft beneath their feet and felt comfortable even on their sore legs as they continued their trek. It was almost unbelievable that this place could be dangerous. They continued forward, every step causing them to forget their previous fear little, by little.

They arrived next to their first spire and Blake was immediately impressed with how thick it was. It was nearly one hundred times as dense as any tree. The twisting rock it was made of was covered in moss and roots, giving it an incredibly ancient feeling. More than that, it felt...sacred. Almost as if it was something not to be disturbed or touched by mankind.

"I'm tired…" Ruby groaned as they passed it and continued forward. There were several more in the distance in front of them, some of their bases impossible to see thanks to the numerous hills.

"What are you, a child?" Weiss chided as she glared at her. "We've got about an hour until sunset and we're still a ways off from the mesa I think we need to be to."

"She is only fifteen and this is a lot of up and down walking, Snow Angel. Cut her some slack." Jaune immediately stepped to Ruby's defense.

"You pick up her slack then! I'm trying to keep us from failing!" Weiss spun on her heel and stormed ahead. "And stop calling me that!"

"I'm sorry." Ruby looked downtrodden for having got Jaune yelled at.

"Hey, don't worry about it. She's just cranky from not getting her proper beauty sleep." Jaune jostled Ruby's hair, getting a giggle from her. He then crouched down in front of her and she looked taken aback. "Hop on. I'll carry you for awhile." With a deep blush on her face, Ruby obliged and got on his back. He wrapped his arms around her legs and began piggybacking her.

"Thanks." Blake's bow twitched as she heard Ruby quietly whisper into Jaune's ear. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt a tinge of something as she watched the two of them. She quickly squashed the feeling and continued to follow after them.

It was only a few minutes before they ran into a problem. One of the rivers that they had seen cut across their path and it was running far too rapidly for them to simply cross without being swept away. To their left it went off a cliff and formed a waterfall. To their right was one of the pockets of trees they had seen earlier. It was a miniature forest in its own right now that they could see it up close.

"This is nothing." Weiss walked up to the edge of the river without fear and unhooked Myrtenaster from her belt. The dial at the end spun until was locked on the light blue and she stabbed at the river in front of her. In only an instant a huge hunk of it froze to solid ice, forming an easy path for them to cross. They wasted no time doing so for fear of the river ripping their makeshift bridge apart at any moment.

The sky was beginning to become dyed with oranges and purples as the sun got lower and lower to the horizon. Their pace naturally quickened as the urgency of the time was becoming blatantly more apparent to all of them.

"Do you think there's an elevator to the top?" Jaune asked the question that Blake could only hope the answer was a yes. The mesa they were searching for was now distinctly in their sights but to their dismay it stretched impossibly high up.

"My glyphs can get us up there easily enough. I won't fail just because there isn't something like an elevator." Weiss and everyone's eyes were glued to the side of the structure ahead of them. It was their one and only goal right now. They were so caught up in it that they failed to notice the danger that was approaching them until it was almost too late.

Naturally, it was Blake who felt it first. "Is the ground...shaking?" She wasn't sure if it was a trick of her tired legs which were shaking simply from the exertion she had put them through or if there was actually something causing the ground to quake.

The others took pause and seemed to consider her question for a moment. Jaune was the first to respond. "The ground is definitely shaking. It's getting stronger too." Ruby was beginning to jitter around in his hold.

"It's not an earthquake, is it?" Weiss looked the most concerned of them as she kept shifting her gaze from the ground to the mesa.

"Actually...I think it's that." Ruby pointed to their left, away from the setting sun, and they all followed with their eyes.

"That's no earthquake." Blake's breath hitched at the behemoth Grimm that was charging for them. It was still too far off to make out all the details, but from what she could tell it was not something they wanted to mess with.

"Should we run?" Jaune was already taking a few uneasy steps away from it. "We don't have much time before the sun sets after all."

"We should definitely run. Like now." Weiss' voice trembled with fear as she gazed at it.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Jaune didn't waste another second; He sprinted faster than Blake had ever seen him go before and that was with Ruby on his back too. She and Weiss were immediately on his tail.

"How did it even find us?" Ruby screamed as she was able to keep looking at it. The others didn't dare turn around to see it. "We would've seen something that big way before it saw us, wouldn't we?"

"Who knows? It's a Grimm! They have all kinds of unusual abilities, most of them good for hunting humans!" Blake's legs were on fire. They had been sore before but now she was putting every fiber of her being into using them to propel herself forward. Her lungs greedily sucked for air but they couldn't possibly get enough. The trembling was getting so bad now it was almost impossible for them to run straight. They still easily had three hundred meters until they made it to the Mesa but there was another forest pocket just twenty to their right.

"Guys! It's on us! Like right this second!" Ruby's eyes hadn't left it and she was reaching for her weapon and appeared to be preparing to kick off Jaune's back.

"Ruby! Distract it for just a second!" Weiss unhooked her rapier. Blake took this as a good sign to unsheath Gambol Shroud. Jaune's sword came out and his shield popped open. They were ready.

"I'm on it!" Ruby's weapon transformed into a scythe and she flipped backwards and away from Jaune. She fired off a round and it propelled her backwards and right towards the Grimm. As she did, all three of them spun around to face whatever it was behind them.

Blake...did not like their odds.

It had three different heads on its body. The one at the front was that of a lion. A big, black lion with the most evil red eyes she had ever seen. It's wild mane was dyed so black it looked like a deep abyss. The second head rode on it's back and was that of a goat. The horns looped around and were made of dark gray Grimm armor. Its front legs were lion paws while it's back were goat hooves. The final head was on its tail and was a snake that made the King Taijitu look small by comparison. The whole thing was big. Just one of it's feet was as tall as they were and the rest of it scaled hopelessly over their heads.

This didn't stop Ruby from swinging right at it's big face. Well, the first face she could. "Take this!" She cried as her scythe descended at it. It turned its head just slightly and she struck the lion's mane only to have her blow completely deflected. Blake could only sympathize as the younger girls eyes widened in shock and she flipped backwards and away from it.

"What the hell is that thing?" Jaune's knees were shaking as he stared up at the monstrosity before them.

"It's a Chimera-class Grimm." Weiss stabbed her sword into the ground and a path of ice spikes trailed towards the Chimera. It gave a mighty roar and swung it's paw. The ice shattered before it even made it to it. "It's an S-rank Grimm."

"What does that mean?"

"It means only the best of the best go after something like this." Blake answered Jaune's question before charging forward to land a strike of her own. In other words they were screwed unless they came up with a plan. Before that though they had to keep it confused by constantly charging at it independently. All three heads seemed to still be analyzing them. They only had a small window before it began attacking in earnest.

That small window appeared to be up as the lion head roared, the goat bleated, and the snake hissed. Blake skid to a halt but she was right in front of it. The lion's mane began shaking violently. It was horrifying looking. Like thousands of snakes were wiggling about. Then it came to life and began stretching out. Four spears made of the hair extended all at once; One for each of them.

Blake left behind a clone and dodged with just a second to spar. It had been incredibly quick. She turned to see Jaune had shielded himself while Weiss and Ruby were both protected by the former's glyph. "Blake! Behind you!" She turned to see the snake head lunging at her.

"Damn!" She dropped to the ground and it barely skirted over her head. It pulled back and poised itself to strike again. Meanwhile, she heard the goat inhale. She could only spare a brief glance before she had to dodge again. It spit a horrible green liquid from its mouth that flew right at Jaune.

He raised his shield to deflect it. "Dodge it you dunce!" Weiss and Ruby were holding off all four of the tendril-like spears that were made of the lion's mane.

Jaune froze up for just a second before rolling out of the way. The green spit hit the ground and immediately began to melt a hole into it. "Thanks, Snow Angel! I knew you cared!" He yelled before looking to see another acid-loogie flying at him. Weiss didn't have the time to respond as more pieces of the mane broke off and were beginning to overwhelm her and Ruby.

This was falling apart for them very quickly. They had been divided up by the heads and if they didn't do something they were going to be picked off one by one. They were going to have to do something and soon. The problem was that communicating with one another was almost impossible. She was putting all her effort into just surviving at the moment and the others were doing the same. If they tried looking out for each other it would only get themselves killed. She had to take control of her own fight if she was going to help someone else.

She dodged the snake once again and sliced at it with Gambol Shroud. Predictably it had no effect. She was going to need to get momentum to do any real damage to it but that thing was swinging around so quickly and fluidly that she couldn't even get a clean hit in, let alone a powerful one.

The snake pulled its head back and loomed over at her. This was another problem, a normal snake was restricted to the ground. This one dangled in the air, giving it a whole different range of ways to come at her. It let out a low, long hiss and once again made a jab for her. She left a clone and dodged to the right. It struck the ground, sending hunks of dirt and grass flying in every direction. She landed right next to it, this time determined to stab its piercing red eye.

"Blake!" Before she had the chance, Jaune tackled her out of the way. She looked to see the snake head pull back up and a wad of acid strike the ground she had just been standing on. Jaune had just saved her life.

"Thanks." They both scrambled to their feet and Jaune nodded in response to her. They stood side-by-side, watching now for both the snake and goat heads.

"Weiss and Ruby are gonna make a break for it here in a second. When they get here we're gonna go for the snake head first. Then the goat. We'll end it with the lion. It's the only strategy we got." He quickly filled her in on the plan the others had somehow formed while she was busy with her end.

"That sounds like the best option to me. We're no good split up like this. It should get easier with each blow we deal." Blake and Jaune split from one another just in time to dodge the snake. She left a clone that was hit by acid not a moment later.

"Jaune! Blake! Hang on!" Ruby and Weiss were coming in at high speeds and Blake knew it was time to put a plan in action if they had one.

"Weiss! Freeze it down!" Jaune called and the heiress reacted. The snake was frozen to the ground just below it's head, keeping it low to the ground. "Ruby! I'll give you a boost! Get above it! Blake get below! Do to it what you did to the Nevermore!"

"Right!"

"You got it!"

Ruby vanished in a blur of roses and appeared above Jaune. He already was crouched with his shield above his head. She fired her gun and was launched into the air. She arched herself above the snake just as Blake got beneath it. Weiss waved her rapier and two more glyphs appeared; One above Ruby and one below Blake. "Use them as a boost!" She commanded. More of the tendrils from the lions mane were about to strike her in the back but Jaune intercepted them with his shield, allowing her to focus.

"Do it!"

Ruby gave a yell as she kicked off her glyph and Blake decided to do the same. Their blades dug into its neck at the same time and just like they had done once before they popped its head clear off.

The other two heads of the Chimera gave very different cries of pain. The tail broke free from the ice and begun swinging around wildly. The mane retracted back to the lion's face and it began stamping the ground with its paws while bucking with its hooves. The ground shook horribly as it threw its tantrum and they all nearly toppled over.

"We need to get the goat now, right?" Blake wanted nothing more than to take a breather but time was running out very, very quickly. They had maybe fifteen minutes before the sun set and that was being generous. That was fifteen minutes to cut off two more heads of an S-rank Grimm, run three hundred meters to a mesa and then scale it to the top and board a ship.

Yeah, not good.

"What's the strategy for that?" Ruby turned to her partner and Jaune anxiously mimicked that look.

"We need to get up there, first. The base of its head is huge and those horns pose a major problem but not nearly as much as that disgusting spit of its so we'll have to pincer it from the sides. Arc and Belladonna should take one end while we take the other. As long as we can destroy its brain it should be easier than cutting its head off. Besides, it'll be more of a hindrance still attached to the body."

"Then let's go." Ruby cocked her scythe and a shell fell out of it.

"Wait, something's wrong!" Blake put her arm in front of her and they all took notice of the Chimera acting differently. It was still thrashing but the tail had quit flailing around like a broken cord and now shot backwards, ramrod straight. It started pulsing. At first it was slow but the time between each pulse got quicker until it was happening multiple times a second. A sick gushing sound reached their ears and the severed part of the tail began growing...until the head of the snake returned as if it hadn't been cut at all.

"Now that's just cheating…" Jaune's arms fell helplessly to his sides. Blake couldn't help but agree with him.

"Is it immortal?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"It can't be." Weiss shook her head. "It likely either has a central heart or all three heads operate independently. If the latter is the case we would have to cut them all off simultaneously to kill it."

"That's about as possible as locating the heart, assuming it only has one of those." Blake didn't want to admit it, but there was just no way they were going to kill this thing. It was S-rank for a reason and that put it out of their league. They were foolish to think they could have ever taken it on at all.

"I agree. We need to run." Weiss sheathed her sword as the Chimera still appeared to be reorienting itself.

"Run where? It's faster than us simply because of it's size." Jaune looked back towards the mesa but even Blake knew they would never make it.

"There's a forest behind us. Maybe we can lose it there?" They all looked at one another and nodded at Ruby's suggestion. It was much closer to them and if they had any chance at all of getting away it was going to be in there.

"Run and live. Finally you people speak my language." Jaune's shield retracted and he slid his sword away. A moment later and he was was on the run again. The rest joined him but it was only after a dozen meters that they heard (or rather felt) the Chimera give chase after them.

"Don't turn around!" Weiss screamed as she appeared to skate across the earth. "Just run right into the the trees! Once you've gotten in, if its not after you try to head north and make a break for the airbase!"

Blake didn't want to be the pessimistic one. Their plan was sound enough and really was the only viable thing at all at this point but there was one major problem. It had found them from leagues away for seemingly no reason. This thing was an excellent hunter. There wasn't getting away without someone drawing it off. That meant someone would have to be left behind. It was the unfortunate reality of the situation. Who would it be though? She had a sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach that she knew who was going to volunteer for the role of a martyr; Even if he hadn't realized it yet.

They were ten meters to the forest and she could feel its breath on her back now.

Each step it took on its stampede threw her a little into the air.

It was seconds away from mauling them.

Five meters to the forest.

Its legs were visible to her left and right without even having to turn her head. If she looked up the lion's head would without a doubt be directly above her.

A final burst of speed and they crashed into the trees. The sound of them being uprooted and an angry roar told them that it wasn't about to give up just because it lost sight of them.

A whole tree trunk flew over her head and landed in front of her. Orange and yellow leaves were scattered in every direction. She paid it no mind and jumped clear over it. A bleat from the goat head told her that she was putting some distance on it but she also realized that her teammates' footsteps were scattered a distance away from her. They had been forced to separate in order to make it around the dense foliage and with a glance around she didn't immediately see any of them.

"North!" Weiss yelled a little to her right. The Chimera heard it too. Blake took off running in the sound of the voice but to her distress it sounded like the Chimera was running that way too. It was lumbering towards where her voice had just come from.

"Over here you stupid Grimm!" That voice behind her caused her heart to drop. It was without a doubt, Jaune's voice. The Chimera paused and changed directions. She could see its huge black mass moving even through all the trees. "That's right! Follow me!" His voice was getting farther away as he ran in the opposite direction they should be heading.

A crack of a branch behind her caused her to spin around to see Ruby tumble up to her.

"Jaune's calling it off for us to get away." Blake informed her. "We need to go help him." Ruby nodded enthusiastically. The Chimera was getting farther away but it was still easily visible due to its size.

"No, let him." Weiss appeared from a tree behind them.

"What?!" Blake heard Ruby's voice overlap with her own.

"Keep it down, don't let that dunce's sacrifice be for nothing." Blake instinctively reached for Gambol Shroud as she took a couple threatening steps towards the Heiress.

"How dare you call him that after you're ready to just allow him to throw away his life for us!" She reached her hand forward to grab Weiss by the neck but Ruby's timid hands grabbed her wrist, keeping her from completing the action.

"Please, don't fight! We need to go save Jaune!" She looked with pleading eyes at Weiss.

She only rolled her eyes at them and Blake clenched her fist. She almost broke her hand free from Ruby's grip so she could punch her. "Look, we won't get away at all if someone doesn't stay behind. I'm just being practical. We'll get to the airbase and inform them of what happened and they'll fly down and pick him up. They can't expect to leave him to the claws of an S-rank Grimm. We're not even students yet. We weren't trained for this."

Ruby faltered. "S-She might have a point."

"He won't last until we get back! One person can't possibly outrun that thing on their own! The amount of cover doesn't matter." Blake seethed and yanked her wrist free from Ruby's grasp. "I'm going after him."

"Do what you want. I'm getting to the airbase. Ruby, come on." Weiss turned and walked away but Ruby didn't move. She looked nervously at Blake and then back to Weiss.

"I-I'll stay too. I can't abandon Jaune. He was my first new friend." She began to pull out her weapon again but Blake placed a hand on her arm.

"Go with Weiss. I'll make sure to keep Jaune alive. I need someone I can trust to make sure that that airship comes for us. Commandeer it if you have to. We're counting on you."

Ruby hesitated for a moment before she nodded vigorously. She then dashed forward and embraced Blake in a hug. She blinked in surprise before gently returning it for a second. "Hurry and go." She whispered into her ear.

Ruby pulled away and seemed to be fighting back tears. "You both better be alive when I come back. I will without a doubt come back. Keep that stupid jerk alive."

"I will."

Ruby smiled through the tears that were now falling down her face. In a flurry of petals she was gone and after Weiss.

Blake looked up to the sky. The last rays of orange were settling in and the sky was almost completely purple. They were about out of time. Ruby and Weiss would barely make it if they were lucky. Jaune and her though...they were screwed.

She smiled bitterly.

So this was it, huh? She turned and ran after her one and only friend. At least if this was the end she would be facing it with him.

* * *

><p>Jaune had to admit, he had better ideas. Then again, since he got ahold of those fake transcripts it seemed his life was a series of just bad ideas. This one probably took the cake though. Luring off an S-rank Grimm was without a doubt going to get him killed in short order.<p>

He ducked behind a tree and peeked around for it. He had been able to outmaneuver it long enough for the sun to have gone down but now the pitch black Grimm was hard to see with it blending into the night sky. It was not hard to hear, however. Every lumbering step it took shook and the ground and it's massive body knocked trees over just by bumping into them. It roared in anger as it tried to find him.

He took a couple cautious steps backwards, very careful not to make much noise. The Chimera had incredibly good hearing and if even one head caught the tiniest noise it would be on him in seconds and he would be forced to make another mad scramble. The sound of something slithering through the brush made him lock up in fear.

The snake portion was gliding through the trees, peeking here and there for him and sniffing the air hoping to catch his scent. If he didn't move soon it was going to pick up his trail, but he had to fight every urge to bolt. Running recklessly was going to get him caught just as quickly.

Slowly but surely he creeped backwards and away from the Chimera. Maybe he was going to make it? But where would he go if he got away? The sun had set which meant the airship would have already departed. He was stranded out here on his own. Even if he survived this encounter it was only a matter of time before something else killed him. He had all of Forever Fall to hike through before he got to Vale and the city was quite further away than Beacon was. It would take him at least three days of just walking. He would be too exhausted to fight off a lone Beowulf let alone whatever else came for him. Maybe it would just be better to get it over with? That Chimera looked like it could swallow him in one bite. Surely that would be a quick, painless death.

No, no, no. He had survived way too much crap to just give up now. If and when he died he was going to die swinging the whole way. That was the least he could do for the ones he let get away. Man...he really missed them right about now. Beautiful, beautiful Weiss. She may have a sharp personality but she was exceptionally skilled. The way she had just taken command of the group had put him at ease and she was just so much fun to tease. Sweet, quirky Ruby. She was his first new friend at Beacon and already felt like a little sister to him.

Blake…

It almost made him cry to think he would never see her again. They had been through so much in just the two days they had spent together. Was it really only two days? It felt like he had known her for months. The constant threat of death combined with the exchange of their deepest secrets probably had something to do with that.

A twig snapped beneath his foot and the snake jerked its head over towards him. It hissed as its eyes locked on him and he could hear the thundering steppes of the main body as it came at him again.

"Just give me a break already." He sighed and turned to run. He only took a step though before he ran smack into someone.

"Blake?!" He blinked twice to confirm it was her. When she didn't vanish he knew she was real.

"Come on!" She grabbed his wrist and yanked him with her as she ran.

"What are you doing here? I stayed behind so you guys could get out of here!" Despite what he said he couldn't help but feel a little happy that she came back for him. It was hard for him to imagine anyone ever doing that for him (anyone not his family that is).

"I'm gonna kick your ass for deciding that on your own later! First we need to survive!" Blake sounded really, really angry. He had to admit, he would be pissed if she had done the same so he couldn't really fault her. He was quite afraid of that ass-kicking she promised though.

Wait, she just said after they survived just now. "Do you have a plan to get us outta this?"

"Ruby was going to come with me but I told her to take control of the airship if she had to! She's coming back for us so we just have to hold out!" That was reassuring to know. There was a slim chance he was still going to make it out after all. Like Blake said: They just had to hold out. That was going to be unfortunately tricky.

He heard the goat spit again and turned around to see a glob of acid flying directly at them. "Blake! We gotta dodge!" He wrapped his free arm around her waist and dove both of them to the right. They hit the ground just as the acid struck a tree they had been running towards. With a burning hiss, it ate through the trunk and the tree collapsed into the forest but it didn't end there; The acid set the trunk ablaze and the fire spread almost immediately as a crashing step from the Chimera sent the flames scattering in all directions. "Great, now we gotta outrun a Grimm and a wildfire."

He scrambled to his feet, pulling Blake up with him as he did. The fire was jumping from tree to tree, being spread by all the wind the Chimera made when it moved as it thrashed around while looking for them. Its red eyes squinted against the suddenly bright flames and obscure smoke. At the very least it was providing them some cover.

"We gotta keep moving, Jaune." Blake tugged at his wrist and he nodded. They turned to run and a flaming branch collapsed in front of them, barring their path. "This feels familiar." She smirked with mirth.

"Running for our lives while the world around us is attempting to collapse on our heads?" He just really hoped he didn't get hit in the head again. That rock had hurt but if something knocked him out and set him on fire then he would be done for.

"This way." She turned to their right and took off, pulling him along again. The Chimera roared and stomped after them, knocking over trees and sending flaming debris launching into other parts of the forest, only spreading the fire further. It had only started a second ago but thanks to the Grimm's efforts it seemed the whole area around them was ablaze. No matter where they went, burning branches surrounded them.

They both coughed and stumbled their way forward. The smoke was becoming thicker and the whole area was alight with an orange glow. Jaune's lungs desperately sought clean air and he was overwhelming hit by fatigue as it failed to collect any. Seriously, how was his body even still functioning? He couldn't help but recall the things he had put it through in just two days. Any other normal person would've died. Maybe this meant he was beyond normal? It relieved him to think random thoughts like that.

"We need to get out of this forest!" Blake doubled over and coughed hoarsely. "We'll suffocate from all this smoke."

"We don't even know what way out is." He attempted to squint into the distance but his eyes watered as the smoke obscured his vision. A foot of the Chimera crashed down right next to them, causing them to jump and sprint away. Trees were torn apart as more tendrils made from the lions mane skewered the area they had been occupying.

"It can't be far! The area of trees we ran into only covered about three hundred square meters at most." She switched her grip from his wrist and just wrapped an arm around his and leaned heavily against his body. She was gasping horribly for breath and he could only imagine he was too.

"You can give me all the fancy mathematics you want but that's not making this easier." He regretted saying that sentence as he inhaled a big puff of smoke. It sent him into a coughing fit that nearly halted their movement completely. He saw Blake worriedly scan for their exit. If they didn't find it in the next minute they were screwed. Not that leaving the forest was going to be much better. For all the trouble it was giving them it was making things much harder for the Chimera too. Once they ran out into the open they were going to have no choice but to engage it again and that hardly seemed like a good idea for two soot-covered, air-deprived teens.

"I think I see the exit! The trees thin out at least. If anything maybe we can escape this smoke." He nodded and they took off again. Their pace was a slow jog at best now. It was a miracle the Chimera didn't catch up to them but he could only imagine how smokey it was above the trees. That thing probably couldn't see at all. Let alone this fire was loud. Any noise they made was likely completely drowned out.

In a second, Jaune saw what Blake was talking about. It definitely looked like an out to him. With a small, hope-filled burst of speed they broke out of the burning forest...and nearly tumbled off a ledge.

"What the hell is this?" What kind of luck did they have? It wasn't an outright cliff they had stumbled into but rather, some kind of rocky slope that bent away and went off to dust-knows-where. It looked kind of like a giant dirt slide to him but there was no way for them to safely traverse down it. Then again, safety might have to be damned. With a burning forest and a Chimera being what was behind them, this was without a doubt the easy choice. He pulled out his sword and allowed his sheath to expand into a shield.

"What're you doing?" Blake turned to him and back to the slope in front of them. She also glanced behind them. The Chimera was running at them again. He could hear it.

"Ever been sledding?" He asked as he pulled her as close to him as he could and dropped his shield face down at his feet.

"What?!" He didn't respond. Instead he kicked his shield onto the slope and jumped after it. He landed on it on his butt and had Blake on his lap. The moment they had hit it they began accelerating at a rapid pace as they sledded down. Just as he hit his shield Chimera had broken free from the trees, sending some of them flying down after them. "Jaune! This is crazy!"

"I know!" He agreed as he leaned left and barely avoided one of the flaming trees as it landed directly in front of him. Immediately he had to shift right again to dodge another one. They were moving incredibly quickly now though and the bend was coming up. Flaming logs rolled after them from behind. Where the bend led, Jaune had no idea but it had to be better than getting smashed by burning logs.

"Can you turn this thing?" We're going to crash if you don't!" Blake was yelling directly in his ear, not that she had much choice. " And it's still chasing us!" After she said this, he could hear the thundering steps of the Chimera as it ran down the slope after them.

"Can't you give me some good news for once!" He held his sword so the blade was pointing at the ground. When they came to the bend he dug it into the ground and nearly felt his arm get ripped from his socket. Still, he held tight and spun them at a ninety degree angle. They made the turn and he pulled his sword out. They continued down the slope for a few seconds before a giant crashing sound told him the Chimera hadn't been so lucky and had run smack into the wall in front of it.

"I think it just caused an avalanche. There's boulders rolling after us now." She was still staring behind them, but she sounded much more calm now.

"Seriously, would it kill you to give me good news?"

The wind was blowing so hard into his eyes it was obscuring his vision. He couldn't tell if they were heading for another bend or if there were any obstacles in his path. Truthfully, they were careening at speeds far too high for him to make proper adjustments anymore anyways. To top it off they couldn't afford to slow down unless they wanted to get buried alive. Yeah, this was going great. Hey, let's go sledding. It'll be fine. He hated the him from thirty seconds ago right now.

"It looks like there's a cliff in front of us. We're gonna go over it." Was Blake broken? She once again said this with so much composure he wasn't even sure it was real. "The moon is out though so at least you'll be able to watch as we plummet to the ground."

"I know you tried presenting that as good news but seriously, that just depressed me more." As he said this he felt the ground beneath him vanish.

They had gone off the cliff and had entered freefall.

Again.

He was frickin spiraling through the air as he fell to his death again.

This was the third frickin time.

It didn't even frighten him like it did the first couple times, now it just made him mad that it seemed to keep happening.

He looked beneath them and grabbed his shield. Pale white sand that was illuminated by the broken moon's light was their destination. Just in front of them was the sea. It looked so peaceful and still. The moon reflected beautifully off its calm surface.

"I don't suppose your semblance is gonna be able to save us from going splat?" He turned to Blake and she nodded her head. "Good, good. Any time now would be awesome." They were starting to get really close to the surface and his stomach lurched at the idea of turning into a red blob on the ground.

He caught Blake rolling her eyes at him out of the corner of his but she did as requested and made a clone that they were able to kick off of. They hit the ground running. He looked up and saw the avalanche had been just behind them. The wave of dirt and boulders crashed into the ground and the impact shook the earth so violently that they were thrown off their feet and face first into the ground. It continued for a solid thirty seconds before finally trickling to a stop, leaving a massive mountain of debris behind them. Yeah, he was really glad he had not been hit by that.

He took in his surroundings. The moon illuminated everything quite nicely for him so he didn't need to rely on Blake's Faunus vision anymore. To their right was the sea. To the left an unscalable cliff. Behind them was the now finished avalanche. The path ahead of them was clear.

A moonlit beach stroll sounded like a nice, stress-free way to end the evening to him.

"At least we lost the Chimera."

He spoke too soon.

It landed directly in front of them. The snake hissed, the goat bleated, and the lion roared.

"Oh come on!" He had to re-evaluate their options.

In front of them was the Chimera.

To their right was the sea.

To their left an unscalable cliff.

Behind them was a mountain of debris.

They were screwed. That was it. They were done. Game over.

He broke into laughter as he dropped to his knees. His sword and shield hung limply at his sides. The Chimera made no move to lunge at them. Instead, it seemed content to lie in wait and stalk them at its leisure. It knew they were done just as much as they did.

"I guess this is it, huh." Blake sat down next to him and gave a sad smile. "Any regrets?"

"Ha, too many to count." He shook his head and smiled at her.

"Yeah, me too." Maybe it was because it was the end but they talked with no tension between them at all. It could also have been because they were just way too exhausted to care anymore. "I think the biggest thing I wanted to do was help fix the gap between Faunus and humans. I just wanted us to be seen as equals. Seems like I only ever made it worse."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'd say you and I lived equally by one another. Even if it was only for two days. That's gotta count for something." She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Man...if I had to say the thing I regretted the most…" He paused and thought about it.

There were just so many things. How could he possibly name one of them? What was it he thought when he was first falling yesterday? At the very beginning of all this. Oh yeah, it was that.

"...I really wanted to have my first kiss before I died. Guess that'll never happen."

Blake tilted her head at him and smiled coyly. "I can solve that for you."

"Huh?" Jaune blinked at her and his brain locked up in confusion. What was she talking about? "How-" He was cut off as something warm pressed up against his lips.

His frozen brain kicked into overdrive as he processed what was happening. Blake's words and then her proximity to him. Her eyes were closed and her face was up against his, which could only mean one thing;

She was...kissing him.

It lasted only a second before she pulled away but it felt like it had lasted far longer than that. Not just that, but it had been a magical experience. Her lips were so soft and warm. They tasted slightly of blood and sweat but even that didn't put a damper on it. He was on cloud nine right now.

As he thought these things he could only stare at her in shock and she blushed before turning her head away. "Don't get the wrong idea but seeing as we're going to die anyways I figured it wouldn't hurt to fulfill your last wish. I had no real attachment to who I gave my first kiss to anyways so you were better than anyone. Besides, it wasn't half bad." She smiled warmly as he continued to stare at her in shock. "Satisfied?"

That question finally forced him to get his mouth working.

"Not at all."

She looked taken aback, but he wasn't done yet.

"That was amazing!" He declared as he got to his feet. "I had no idea a kiss was like that! If I get to experience that again by living then I'm going to do whatever the hell it takes!" He glared at the Chimera and pointed his sword at it in a declaration of war. "You hear that you ugly monster? I'm going to live!"

"I'm honestly not sure if I should feel flattered or dumbfounded right now. Was it really that great for you?"

He didn't get a chance to respond as the Chimera finally decided to make its move. It wasn't one he expected though. Instead of charging at them it stood with its lion head leaned back and its mouth wide open. The goat head leaned forward and opened its mouth as well. Then the snake hung over both of them and opened its mouth wide too. At first it looked like nothing was happening but then...he could see a black orb forming at the spot where their mouths hung open. It began growing in size and soon was bigger than even the lion head.

"That...doesn't look good." Blake had yet to rise from her sitting position. "I'd hate to bring you down but I'm sensing a ton of dark energy coming from that thing. It'll likely wipe out whatever it touches."

"I don't care. I'm gonna make it outta this. We're both gonna make it outta this." He took a couple steps forward and positioned himself in front of her. He then raised his shield up.

"Jaune…" She clearly didn't share his sentiment. She had still given up. That was fine. He would show her that they could both survive. He just needed to be confident enough for both of them.

The orb quit growing and then began compacting as if it were squeezing in on itself. It got small enough to fit in its mouth...which might have been the point cause the lion ate it just a second after he thought that. All three mouths closed tight and the Chimera bloated unnaturally as the energy swelled up inside of it.

"Now I see." Blake whispered just as the lion opened its mouth. A bright orange beam fired directly at them. It was huge, taking up more space than either of them were capable of moving so there was no dodging to the side of it. He could only watch as the earth beneath it disintegrated at the touch and to top it off it was fast. It was going to be on them in a second.

He locked his mouth in grim determination and bent down so one knee was on the ground and hid behind shield. He checked behind him once more to make sure Blake was completely obstructed too. She could only stare at him with wide-eyed disbelief. He was really going to try to save them.

He turned back and the beam connected.

It struck his shield and he was pushed backwards against the sand and almost right into Blake.

Still, it held. He heard her gasp in surprise behind him as the beam of energy scattered around them on all sides but the part in front of his shield held firm. He could feel his hair that was just barely poking above it singe and saw the outer layer of his sleeves and pants start to smoke as they were just a little too close to the outside.

His grip on his shield weakened as the blast continued to assault him and he slid another couple centimeters backwards. He grit his teeth and held on for dear life. He then felt a pressure on his back and Blakes hands wrapped around and overlapped with his own, helping him hold up the shield. "You can do this, Jaune! I'm sorry I gave up. Just hold on and we'll make it! I don't know what we'll do after this but if it's together with you then I'm sure it'll work itself out. I just have this feeling that it will."

He grinned and redoubled his efforts. After what felt like an eternity, the blast subsided and they were thrown into relative darkness. It wasn't that the moonlight wasn't bright but compared to the light show that had just enveloped them it seemed dim in comparison. He took a quick check of the path of the beam.

The sand in front of them was completely gouged away right up to where they stood. The gouge continued past them on both sides and as he followed it backwards he saw that the mountain of rubble that had been left by the avalanche ceased to exist. The only thing thing that hadn't been effected was a small trail behind them that was about the width of his shield.

"What is that thing made of again?" Blake tapped it with her knuckle but pulled away quickly. It was scorching hot. A searing pain in Jaune's hands caused him to drop it and he realized that he had been so focused on keeping them alive that his hands were covered in burns and blisters from the heat that was radiating off the shield. It hurt like a bitch now that he was aware of it though and he had to fight back tears. "Jaune." Blake gently cuffed his hands and frowned in concern.

"I'm fine. We still gotta deal with that thing." He nodded to the Chimera which was staring silently at them. It likely couldn't believe that they were alive and was re-evaluating them as they spoke. Jaune attempted to pick up his sword but gasped in pain and dropped it before he even got it completely off the ground. He wasn't going to be able to fight like this.

"Don't worry about it, Jaune. I've got this." Blake got to her feet and took a couple steps forward.

"You can't fight it by yourself!" He hurriedly tried to grab his sword again but once again a stab of pain caused him to fail. He couldn't allow Blake to handle this on her own. She would die. Stupid hands. Work damnit.

"I didn't think you could stop that blast and you did. It's my turn now." Blake held Gambol Shroud in front of herself and prepared for combat.

The Chimera heads made their respective roars in response.

Then they heard something that sounded like a cannon go off. Off behind the Chimera was a girl who seemingly appeared out of thin air and was now flying directly at the giant Grimm. "Who the heck is that?" Blake only shook her head at Jaune's question. She appeared to be a student about their age and she was wielding what looked like a giant hammer.

The goat and snake turned to look at her but she was already upon them. "I hope you're hungry!" She yelled as she swung the hammer at the goat head. It smashed into the side of its face and a pink explosion bowled the whole Chimera over and onto its side. She flew backwards and landed nimbly on her feet.

"This girl is nuts!" He couldn't believe she had just charged in to take on the Chimera by herself. He quickly focused on his hands again, pumping all of the healing aura that he could into them. His reserves were low and he doubted he could fully heal them but if it was enough to wield his shield and sword he would be happy. He couldn't let her fight by herself.

"She's got backup." Blake noted a new boy clad in green as he jumped in and began engaging the snake before it was able to lunge at the girl. The main body was still struggling to get to its feet as several bullets rained down on it, followed by a crack of lightning. They turned up to see that girl who was on the cereal box along with...Weiss!

"She came back for us!" Jaune felt himself tear up. He had never been so happy to see someone in his life.

"We all did." Someone else spoke as she landed right behind them. Jaune turned to see it was Ruby's older sister, Yang.

"Blake! Jaune!" A moment later and Ruby landed next to her sister before lunging at the still sitting knight. She tackled into him and knocked him over. His focus on his aura was shattered as she wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug and wept into his chest armor. "I thought I was too late!" He could barely make out her words as she spoke into his body.

"We had almost given you guys up." Yang explained more clearly than Ruby was able. "We thought for sure that thing had killed you in either the fire or the avalanche. Then we saw it shoot a beam and realized we'd messed up. We almost just turned around before it could notice us but lo and behold, Captain Atlas and his shield here had pulled you guys through." She grinned as she crouched down next to Jaune and ruffled his hair. "Thanks a bunch for looking out for my kid sister. I owe you." She then stood up and nodded to Blake. "That goes to you too."

Blake inclined her head slightly but turned back to the Chimera. Jaune followed her gaze to see the other four still battling it. "We're not out of the woods yet. That thing isn't going down without a fight and both Jaune and I are about out of energy to lend much of a hand."

"Weiss already ran us through a plan of hers. I'll fill you in and you let me know if you two think you can contribute. I'm talking to you too, Ruby. Enough crying already. We got a Grimm to kill." Yang pulled her sister off of Jaune and he felt like he could breathe again. Man, she had a tight grip.

"Who's flying the airship?" He asked as he gasped for breath. He could see if hovering overhead now, a machine-gun poised at the Chimera and ready to take the shot if it got a clear view where it wouldn't hit any of them.

"Some General from the Atlas army that calls himself, Ironwood. Guess he's a personal friend of the headmaster or something." Yang held out her hand and Jaune took it, allowing himself to be hoisted to his feet. His hands still hurt like hell but he had a small part left to play still. So with great care he picked his sword and shield up and readied himself for battle.

"Jaune, you can sit this one out if you want." Blake eyed him up and down with concern but he shook her worry off. He knew he looked like hell but that Grimm was the last thing standing between him and a warm bed. He'd be damned if he didn't do something. So, he turned to Yang and nodded.

"What's the plan?"

* * *

><p>General James Ironwood watched with great interest as the events unfolded in front of him. He had thought for sure that blond kid and girl with the bow were dead when the Chimera had unleashed its ultimate attack on them. Hunters and Huntresses of far greater skill had fallen to that ability before. He had just been about to turn the ship around, despite Ruby's cries of protest when Weiss had shouted that they were alive.<p>

He had to double-take just to believe it. It should have been impossible, yet there they were: all in one piece no less. He suddenly double checked their names and memorized both of them: Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna.

Before he could decide what to do next though, Nora Valkyrie had jumped out of the ship and launched herself right at the S-rank Grimm. He thought about rebuking her but then she knocked it over with one hit. Her partner, Lie Ren had taken off immediately after her and began engaging as well. Their combined skill was truly exceptional.

He took the ship down to provide them support when he heard Weiss Schnee give out orders for a plan she had formulated. Once the others were clear on the details they all descended, leaving him to wait and watch.

If they pulled this off...it would be unprecedented.

This area had been off limits for years thanks to the terror of the Chimera and its overwhelming power. Surely, they could have defeated it by now but the wasted resources and cost of lives were estimated to be far too high for the payout to be worth it. So they had let the beast have its land. Now though, this scheme might just pay off.

The other four were running to engage now and they all began circling the Chimera in an attempt to confuse it. All three heads howled at them at once and they tried to keep an eye on all eight of them as they ran about and got in position to enact Weiss Schnee's plan.

"Alright kids, show me what you got." Ironwood grinned widely as they all moved as one.

Weiss Schnee kicked the plan into action, swinging her rapier around as if she was weaving a spell. A blue glyph formed beneath the head of the snake and it was pulled down and slammed into the sand as if gravity had become far too heavy for it to support itself. Ruby Rose launched into the air and as she reached just over the glyph, it's dense-gravity effects took hold of her too. Instead of fighting it though, she allowed it to happen and slammed the blade of her scythe into the top of the snake's head, pinning it to the ground and temporarily killing it.

Ironwood knew it would revive though. Chimera's were tricky. If you didn't kill all three heads before one of them revived you would be caught in an endless loop. That was the ability that made them such a terrifying adversary.

Still, the others were already working away. Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Blake Belladonna were all firing dust rounds at the front of the lion's face. Jaune Arc simply stood on standby. It was apparent his weapon had no modification. A classic. Normally he would think of something like that as foolish and say it went against modernization...however, he couldn't deny the tenacity that shield of his held.

The remaining two Chimera heads gave angry cries and lunged for the group that was shooting at it. However, Ruby's scythe continued to pin it down and it stumbled and fell as the snake pulled it backwards and it lost its balance. The lion's face buried into the sand as its legs gave out.

The remaining six charged at it and ran up the side of its head. The goat hulked its head back and prepared to spit acid at them but Yang Xiao Long sprinted forward and punched it in the jaw, causing it to spit away from the rest of them. Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna broke to the right while Lie Ren and Pyrrha Nikos took the left. Both groups sliced into goats horns and cut them off at the same time and then they grabbed the broken appendages and sprinted forward. The goat bleated in agony but before it could spit at them, Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie swung at it from either side. Their combined strength crushed its head and forced its brains to explode out the top.

Finally, Jaune Arc and Lie Ren positioned the sharp horns at the back of the lion's head so they were pointed directly above its brain stem. Blake Belladonna and Pyrrha Nikos jumped back and used their semblances to fly forward and strike the back of the horns. They dug into the flesh and almost immediately the Chimera fell forward and halted any and all movement. Ironwood sat and waited for a solid minute before confirming its death.

They had killed it.

All three heads of the Chimera were dead and it would never be capable of reviving again.

"Did you see all that, Oz?" He couldn't hide that massive grin that was on his face. "I told you this was a good idea. We've found them. The perfect candidates."

Broken static came through the other end before he could hear his long time friend's voice. "They did perform...exceptionally." The voice was monotone, almost unimpressed.

Ironwood frowned at the speaker. Ozpin had seen the same thing he just had, right? Even if it was through a monitor, the profoundness of it all should still have been noticeable. "Oz? What're you thinking?"

"For now, just bring them home. They've earned some rest." The static cut off as Ozpin hung up on him.

Ironwood clicked his teeth. He would talk to him later. For now though, he had a point. Those kids had to be exhausted.

He took the ship down to them.

* * *

><p>Jaune stumbled off the Chimera and onto the sand. He couldn't believe it. They had all done it. They had survived. Just as he almost collapsed he felt Blake wrap an arm around him for support. "Good work, partner."<p>

"You didn't do so bad yourself." He gave her a tired grin which she returned.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Why didn't we run into that thing when we were heading to the airship?" Yang waved her arms animatedly as she talked to her partner, Pyrrha.

She only shrugged awkwardly in response before turning and smiling at Jaune and Blake. "I guess this means all the spots on Team Jaune have been filled up?"

"Ha. I'd forgotten about that. Sorry to say, but yeah they have. You seem to have found a pretty awesome team for yourself though." He indicated to Nora, who was talking quite enthusiastically to a silent Ren. When the other boy took notice of Jaune's gaze he nodded to him and gave a small smile.

"Thank you. You're team seems quite capable themselves." This time Jaune shifted his gaze to Weiss and Ruby as they made their way over to the rest of them. He wasn't sure what to say to either of them, especially Weiss. Still, he had to say something.

"Stop right there." Weiss appeared to take notice and raised a hand to stop him. He could've sworn he heard Blake hiss quietly at her tone but decided not to comment, instead waiting for Weiss to continue. "I admit that I have been rather...harsh towards you since we've formed this team. That's simply because I wasn't sure of your skill sets and value to this team." Well, that stung a little. "However, you performed incredibly well to have survived that Chimera and its numerous abilities. Not to mention you held up your end of the plan without a hitch. What I'm trying to say is...sorry. You have some merits after all."

He couldn't help but smile at her little tirade and opened his mouth once more to respond but Weiss interrupted yet again. "Don't you dare ruin my impression of you by calling me Snow Angel." He clamped it shut.

"Look at that, we're all getting along like a big happy family!" Ruby skipped forward happily to help support Jaune from the other side. Did he look that ready to collapse that both of them felt the need to hold him up? Now that he thought about it, he did feel really tired.

"Looks like our ride is here." Whoever said that came out really quiet and his vision began to blur. Was he losing consciousness? He really didn't have a way to answer that as he was dragged to the airship and forced onto it. The hum of the engine lulled him further into darkness as it took off into the sky and hopefully back home.

His head hit Blake's shoulder and he let himself fade into oblivion.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Long Author's Notes for my longest chapter yet. Seriously, did not expect this chapter to turn out nearly this long. Yet it just kept growing on me and before long it was here. I suppose it is fitting though, being the climax of the Initiation arc and you guys are awesome and deserve a long chapter. Now, onto parts of the actual chapter.

I tried really hard for visual imagery this time around, as I feel its something I'm really weak at in terms of writing (I am here to improve as well after all, so why not take some risks?) so I hope that turned out alright for you guys. If you had trouble picturing the scenery they were transversing then I clearly have much to learn.

The Chimera...I'd come up with him and had been planning to use him since before I started this story (I came up with at least a dozen horrible plots before this story took root in my brain). I hope he appeared as menacing to you as I imagined him in my head. In some regards I think I made him a little too OP but this is a RWBY fanfic...and in RWBY I find over-the-top is usually the way to go. The beam attack that he used (as some of you probably realized) was based off of the Bijuu-dama (Tailed Beast Bomb) from Naruto. I don't plan to use many cross-over things in my story but if I do they'll appear about as minor as this one did.

Finally, had a pretty defining JaunexBlake moment this chapter for all you shippers. I was really torn on whether or not to do that cause it is really on the fringe of Blake's character (if not outright OOC) but in the end decided screw it, they think they're dead anyways, why not? Anyways, it hasn't really changed the dynamic between their current relationship as they both understand what it was, but at the very least it planted the seed for later developments so look forward to that in the future.

Next time, things slow down again as the two teams wait for Jaune to wake up.


	6. Infirmary

**Auburn**

_Chapter 6 - Infirmary_

* * *

><p>Blake flipped the page of the book she was reading...attempting to read.<p>

Sure, she could blame her lack of concentration on the two sisters that sat next to her, creating all kinds of racket as they played their card game. However, she knew the truth was actually how worried she was for her partner and friend, Jaune.

He laid unmoving on the bed in front of her. She had a chair pulled up to the side of it and sat protectively by his side. They had returned to Beacon Academy two days ago and he hadn't so much as twitched since he passed out on her shoulder on the airship. The doctors and nurses assured them all that he was fine, that it was just extreme aura-fatigue, but how could that have left him in this state? It didn't make any sense to Blake.

"You're staring at him again." Yang heckled her from where she and Ruby were playing their game. They had a small table set up in front of his bed.

Blake flushed red slightly and refocused her attention on her book. She hated how observant Ruby's older sister was. It was quite disconcerting to someone like herself. "I thought I saw him start to move." She lied smoothly enough but she doubted Yang bought it.

"Really!?" Ruby was a little more naive though. She was next to Blake in a heartbeat and was leaning over Jaune, inspecting his unmoving face. "Come on, Jaune. Come back to us already. We're all waiting on you." She smiled sadly down at him and grabbed his upper arm.

"You two are so cute, watching over him like that." Yang grinned wickedly at them both but Blake chose to ignore her this time. It seemed that's what Ruby did most of the time to her teasing too.

The door opened behind them and they all turned to see Pyrrha walk into the room, a tray of food in her hands. "How is he?" She asked as she brought the tray over to the table that Yang was still sitting at.

"Nothing new. It's pretty boring, actually." Yang responded as she stood and stretched.

"Well, I think it's great that you're all staying by his side until he wakes up. He'll really appreciate it, I'm sure." Pyrrha patted Yang on the shoulder and nodded at Ruby and Blake.

"I'm just keeping my sister company. Miss Untalkative over here isn't exactly the most outgoing person." Yang gestured at Blake who snapped her book shut so she could turn and glare at her.

"I'm sorry for my partner." Pyrrha immediately got between the two of them and bowed apologetically. "Her sense of humor just takes some getting used to is all."

Blake sighed and leaned back in her chair. She averted her gaze and it landed on Jaune's sleeping face. She could almost feel her expression soften just by looking at him. "It's fine. There is no need to apologize. Thank you for bringing us food. If not for you we likely wouldn't have the mind to go out and eat."

Ruby's stomach growled at her words and she blushed sheepishly. She dashed over to the food and grabbed a sandwich. Yang laughed at her sister's antics before turning back to Pyrrha. "What're Ren and Nora up to?"

"Ren is reading in the library. Nora is predictably with him but she's doing anything but reading. Weiss is with them." Blake's hair bristled at the mention of their last teammate. She didn't expect the heiress to be here every second of the day like her and Ruby but would it kill her to check on him from time to time? She hadn't stopped in once since he'd been admitted. It was thanks to him that she had even passed! How ungrateful could someone be?

"Has Professor Ozpin said anything about when we'll be attending classes?" Ruby asked between sandwiches.

"No, I haven't seen the Professor since he welcomed us back." Pyrrha shook her head and her hair swung lightly from side to side.

"Doesn't this seem weird to anyone else?" Yang asked as she looked at all of them. Blake had no idea what she was talking about. Ruby looked just as confused. Pyrrha though, she seemed to be thinking something similar.

"What are you referring to?" Blake decided to just ask. She sat her book on Jaune's bed and gave the blonde her attention.

"Look, I can see why they wouldn't start your team on classes yet, what with Captain Atlas being in a mini-coma over here." Blake thought about reminding Yang that Jaune wasn't even from Atlas but decided against it. Apparently, it was some comic-book reference that she didn't understand. "But that doesn't explain why our team wouldn't have started classes." She gestured to herself and Pyrrha. "Even though our teams passed together, it doesn't make us linked or anything. We just happened to have the same meeting spots."

Blake tapped her knee as she thought about what Yang said. Maybe she was onto something? Why wouldn't they have been sent to start classes yet? They had started yesterday but they hadn't received any instructions about what classes they would be assigned or any sort of schedule. They had been given dorm rooms, told congratulations, and that they would receive further information when they were all conscious. Why though, did they need them all conscious? Surely they could attend classes without Jaune and get him caught up when he awoke.

"There's actually more." It was Pyrrha who spoke up now. Blake tilted her head at her curiously. "Blake, you said that you defeated Cardin Winchester and Russell Thrush in one of the duels during the Emerald Forest portion of the exam." Blake nodded. "Well, I saw both of them in between classes with another two boys who I assumed were their teammates."

"What?!" Blake almost jumped from her chair but wasn't sure what she was going to do once she was even standing. Was she going to report it? To whom? If they were attending classes that meant they had passed, right? How though? Weren't they disqualified when they had been defeated by them? All these questions were starting to confuse her.

"That's not all." Great, there was more Pyrrha had yet to say. "I talked to some of the others that had been launched into the forest with us. All of them were supposed to have gone to the same airbase or were defeated in a duel and extracted by a professor. Not a single other team made it even remotely as far as either of ours did, yet they are all still here as teams, attending classes no less."

"Does that mean we passed some kind of special test?" Ruby scratched her head as she tried to make sense of the information Pyrrha had just given them.

"It certainly looks that way. It sounds to me, that as long as you retrieved a relic with your partner, you were admitted to the school. What that means for our two teams though, that went far beyond that, only the headmaster can answer."

"Let me guess." Blake had an idea where this was going. "You can't get in touch with him?"

Pyrrha nodded her head. "It's like he's avoiding me. Or rather, anyone from our two teams."

"I guess that means we'll just have to wait for Jaune to wake up." Ruby sighed as they all looked at him again. He looked so peaceful, ignorant to everything that was going on in the outside world while he slept.

"You guys don't mind if I give him a little help waking up, right?" Yang cracked her knuckles and glared evilly at him. Blake and Pyrrha immediately moved to intercept her but Ruby got between them.

"She's joking! She's joking!" She waved her arms frantically as she tried to prevent a brawl from happening in the infirmary. "You are joking, right?" She turned around suspiciously and Blake could see a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Of course I'm joking. Seriously, lighten up guys." Yang put her feet up on the table and leaned the chair she was sitting on back until it was only standing on two legs. "No one is any fun." She muttered under her breath.

"I don't know how you grew up with her." Blake grumbled as she finally grabbed a sandwich of her own. If she waited much longer Ruby would have eaten them all. "And I feel bad for you, having her as a partner." She nodded to Pyrrha who gave a forced smile in return.

"You adjust to it quickly. I'm sure the two of you would have made an interesting pair, actually." Blake seriously had her doubts about that. "Well, I am going to go back to our dorm room for now. I hope Jaune gets better soon."

"Thanks again." Blake nodded to her as she turned and left the room. Yang and Ruby returned to their card game while she finished her sandwich and started her book again.

They continued this until sunset.

"We're both taking off, Blake." Ruby declared as her sister packed up the cards. "...Do you want me to say anything to Weiss?"

"No, that's okay." Blake shook her head and didn't look up from her book.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us in our room? You haven't even seen it yet." Ruby twiddle her fingers as she asked bashfully.

"I'll see it once Jaune wakes up." Blake finally looked away from her book to give Ruby a small smile. "I know you're worried about me too, but I'm fine. I know my limits, unlike this idiot." She gestured to Jaune.

Ruby gave a forced smile and nodded. "If you're sure…"

"Just give it a rest Rubes!" Yang draped an arm over her sister's shoulder. "Give her some quiet time with her boyfriend." She winked at Blake, who chose once again to ignore her.

"You have my scroll number. If he wakes up, call me." Ruby gave a final wave as she and her sister left. Blake returned the wave with a small one of her own before she turned back to her book.

It was just the two of them now.

The rest of the infirmary was empty despite being lined with beds. It was likely too early in the year for it to get much use yet.

She continued to read for another two hours before letting out a tired yawn. She checked her scroll and saw it was just past eleven at night. "Not going to wake up today either, huh?" She sighed as she closed her book. She stood from the chair and stepped closer to the bed. She ran a hand through Jaune's blond hair. She wasn't really sure why she did this. Her feelings for him...were getting more complicated the longer he slept. She already missed his goofball tendencies and awkward conversation. She may have only known him for half a week now but she felt closer to him than anyone else, and to suddenly not be able to talk to the person closest to you; To just have him pulled away while she could only watch helplessly as he lay there...was incredibly frustrating.

"Why did you push yourself so hard?" She didn't understand what Jaune had been thinking at all. He was absolutely terrified of even the weakest of Grimm...and yet, when someone was in danger he charged forward with no regard for his own safety at all. She understood wanting to help people, but his actions were usually borderline suicide. It had been these very actions though that had initially brought them close together. It was only after things slowed down that she realized how outrageous his actions truly were. She would confront him when he woke up, that was a promise. That was something friends did...right? She had a feeling she was taking it beyond that.

She yawned again and raised her hand to stifle her mouth. She could think about things like that later. She walked over to the next closest bed and crawled into it, like she had done the night before and the night before that. When Jaune awoke, she would be right by, ready to give him a piece of her mind. With this determined thought in mind, she slipped into sleep.

* * *

><p>The sound of a door creaking open caused her bow to twitch and she was startled awake. She made no movement and instead remained perfectly still. Her ears were on high alert as they tried to ascertain who had just entered or left the room. Jaune was still on his bed and still didn't show any signs of moving. It was still very dark out and if Blake had to guess she would say she'd been asleep no more than three hours, putting it somewhere around two in the morning.<p>

Who would be coming in at two in the morning though? Had someone been injured? Was it a faculty member just checking up on them? She was about to get her answer. Someone was quietly walking through the room towards them. Someone that was trying very hard to be as quiet as possible. Unfortunately for them, Blake had very good hearing.

She waited with baited anticipation until the person came into sight and when she did, Blake almost let out a gasp. She barely caught herself.

It was...Weiss Schnee.

Her white hair flowed freely down her back instead of just being in the usual sideways ponytail and she was in a light-blue nightgown. She shifted around nervously as she attempted to make sure no one was watching her. Her eyes lingered on Blake for half-a-second but seemed convinced that she was asleep. So she sat down on the chair next to Jaune that Blake had been using all day.

What the hell was she doing here? Blake felt anger well help inside her as she stared at the back of Weiss' head. She had no right to be here next to Jaune, now of all times. Not after all the cruel things she had said to him in the forest, nor how she had been prepared to abandon him to his death. She considered getting up and telling her off but decided against it. She should at least watch this play out. Lying in wait was more her style, anyways.

Weiss let out a frustrated sigh and her shoulder sagged slightly. Blake wished she could see her face, see what kind of expression she was making. "I'm not exactly sure what I came down here to say to you." Weiss started slowly. "I already apologized for my actions in Forever Fall so I definitely don't owe you an apology or anything. Still, hearing about you like this... and now seeing it, somehow I feel like it's my fault. I guess that's why I didn't come by earlier. I didn't want to see you still sleeping. I knew I would feel responsible for this. Yet here I am. Stupid guilt. You know I had never intended to abandon you? I know your partner doesn't trust me but I had every intention of bringing that airship back for you, even if I had to steal it. I'm not that heartless as to abandon a teammate, even if that teammate is a dunce like you."

She paused and seemed to consider what to say next.

"I don't know why I'm saying all this to you. It's probably because I know you can't hear me. I've always been horrible at expressing myself and I usually come off as...difficult." She shook her head and her long hair swung from side to side. "Anyways, I've said what I needed." She stood up and turned to walk away but paused. "...Thanks, for listening; Or something like that."

"Weiss?" The door creaked open and a very sleepy Ruby poked her head into the infirmary.

"R-Ruby!?" Weiss sputtered and quickly tried to make as much distance between herself and Jaune's bed as she possibly could. It wasn't much. "What are you doing here? It's two in the morning!"

"I heard you leave the room and followed after you." Blake heard the door shut and Ruby walk into the room. "I'm glad to see you came to see Jaune."

"I didn't come to see him!" Weiss huffed and crossed her arms while turning her head away.

"Oh come on!" The tiredness in Ruby's voice was gone and was replaced by a teasing tone. Definitely Yang's little sister. "It's okay to admit it! You're worried about him just like Blake and I are. You should just be more honest with yourself and have come to see him in the day."

"And subjugate myself to her scrupulous gaze, I think not!" Weiss gestured to Blake and she finally saw a chance to jump in.

"Just give it a rest already. I'm up." Blake sat up from her bed and swung her legs over the edge.

"S-Since when did you wake up?!" Weiss jumped in shock and Blake felt herself smirk.

"When Ruby walked in." She lied so as not to cause Weiss any undue embarrassment. That and she wasn't exactly sure of what to make of the confession she had just heard. It was so unlike the Weiss she knew...and yet, it seemed so very like her at the same time. She couldn't put it into words other than that.

"Hehehe!" Ruby skipped happily across the room and up to the two of them.

"I fail to see what you find so amusing." Weiss glared at their youngest teammate while Blake silently wondered the same thing.

"We're finally all together again. It's been a couple days since we've all been in the same room. I'm just happy for that is all." She looked them each in the eye and smiled brightly.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Touching." She replied dryly.

"I'm not even sure you can call this being all together again." Blake didn't want to dampen Ruby's spirits, but she couldn't help but feel it had to be said. "Jaune isn't exactly awake."

"He will be soon though." How was it that this girl could be so optimistic?

She opened her mouth to respond when a small groan caused her to snap it shut. Her eyes and head flung sideways to look at the source of the noise. Jaune's eyes fluttered and his arm fidgeted. His mouth parted and he let out another small noise. "...ke." It sounded like he was trying to say something.

He...was waking up!

* * *

><p>Why was it that lately whenever Jaune felt himself coming into consciousness he had to wonder if he was dead or not? Probably had something to do with everything that had happened to him the last couple of days.<p>

Not that he could remember most of it. Slowly but surely he was getting fragments of information. A girl with a black bow...her name was Blake? That sounded right. Somehow she felt really important to him. How could that be though? He would have only met her just yesterday, right? Now that he thought about it, what day was he in? He had no idea and for some reason his eyelids wouldn't respond, nor would anything else. It was like he was frozen.

He started to panic. Was he going to be like this forever? Was he destined to never move again? No, no. He couldn't have that. He had to get up! He had to make sure Blake was okay. Why again was checking on Blake important? His brain immediately racked itself for an answer. Perhaps she held the secret to freeing himself. Maybe it would at least explain why he couldn't move in the first place.

How had they even met? He searched his memories and the image of a King Taijitu lunging at him surfaced. That was right...he had run out to save her. They were…partners. No, more than just partners; They were friends. The moment that thought hit him it all came crashing back: The Deathstalker, her secret, the kiss (wait, they kissed? Oh yeah, Chimera), a plethora of other memories joined in and it caused his head to ache in pain.

It was all back now. The order of some of it was jumbled but he more or less remembered what had happened. He had formed a team with Weiss, Ruby, and Blake. Together with others they had survived against insurmountable odds...they had survived, right? The last thing he remembered was darkness as he clung to someone. Had he died out there? Great, now he was back to this. Not sure whether or not he was alive.

The sound of a voice cracked through his thoughts. Someone was...talking. Someone outside of his head. That was a good thing. If there were voices that meant he was somewhere with people. Who those people were was beyond him. He couldn't tell anything aside from the fact that it was a girl. A second voice entered. Another one he didn't recognize. What were they even saying? He felt like the words were familiar but for some reason he wasn't able to process them.

Then, a third voice spoke up. The first one gave a shout in what sounded like surprise, but he wasn't paying attention to that. The third voice...it was Blake's! She was here. He had to get her attention. He had to let her know he was alive. He really hoped he was alive.

With great effort he tried to say something. At first nothing happened. Then he heard it, his own voice cracked out. He almost regretted the action. It made him realize how dry his throat was. When was the last time he had had something to drink? It felt like it had been days. Still, he couldn't give up. He forced himself to feel the rest of his body. Slowly, his senses returned to him. His eyes fluttered open and he felt one of his hands clench and unclench at his command. It was all coming back to him.

"Jaune!" Two voices overlapped. He was finally able to comprehend what they were saying. He also now recognized the owner of the second voice. It was Ruby. His vision blurred as he finally opened his eyes completely. It wasn't...as bright as he expected. That was lucky. He probably wouldn't have been able to keep them open if there had been much more light. He tilted his head slightly and three figures came into view. Two of them were obviously Blake and Ruby...the third one, was a very pale figure. She was so white it almost hurt his eyes to look at her. That had to be Weiss. They were all here for him?

His eyes blurred again and he was afraid he was losing consciousness once more. It took him a second to realize that it was tears that were obstructing his vision. He was so happy to see the three of them again. The fact that they would all be here when he woke up too, nothing could have been better.

"Jaune? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" His tears appeared to be worrying poor Ruby so he cracked the biggest grin he could and nodded. Grinning hurt as it stretched his chapped lips out and he felt his neck crack as he nodded but the sigh of relief he got from Ruby was worth the trouble.

Silence claimed the room for a full minute as Jaune tried to find his voice. He didn't even know what he was going to say when he did find it. The three of them stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and relief (Weiss' was mostly just the former). Finally, he broke the silence between them. "Water?" His voice cracked and came out as nothing more than a hoarse whisper.

Ruby's eyes widened in shock. "I'll be right back!" She vanished, leaving floating rose petals in her place. Blake moved into the spot she had been occupying right next to him and grabbed his hand with both of hers. They felt nice and really warm. His were cold. She gave it a gentle squeeze which he returned.

"I-I'm..." Her voice was incredibly quiet and he noticed her send an embarrassed glance over to Weiss. She cleared her throat and locked her eyes with his, a heavy blush on her face. "I'm really glad you're okay...partner." Even though it was a whisper he could hear the restrained joy in her voice and it looked like she was fighting back tears. He truly didn't deserve the loyalty of such a great person like her.

"I'm back!" Ruby appeared as quickly as she had gone, this time holding a glass of water in front of his face.

"Thanks." He gasped as he lifted his hand and grabbed it. His grip was too weak and he nearly dropped it. Blake wrapped her hands once more around his just in time.

"I'll help you. Just take it slow." She helped lift the glass to his mouth and he greedily drank the whole glass in one go, letting a small portion of the water escape his lips and dribble down his chin as he did. His throat pulsed in pain with every gulp but he paid it no mind as the pleasant coolness settled over his whole mouth.

He let out a gasp when he finished and his grip on the glass strengthened. "You have no idea how much I needed that." His voice still sounded a little rough but at least he was able to talk now.

"We can only imagine. You slept for two full days." For the first time since he had awoken Weiss said something. However, more surprising than her speaking was what she said.

"T-Two days!?" He sputtered and frantically began searching for his scroll to check the date. It wasn't on him. In fact, he was in a hospital gown. For the first time he took in his surroundings and realized it looked like he was in some type of infirmary.

"Jaune." Blake placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy."

"Take it easy?" He turned back to her, not sure how she could be so calm. "How can I take it easy? How did I get here? Are you guys okay? What about the test? Didn't we fail?" Neither he nor Blake had ever made it to the airbase like they were supposed to.

"I believe I can answer all those for you." Everyone turned their heads to see Headmaster Ozpin stroll casually into the room. "You are in no danger, so feel free to do as partner suggested and relax. As for how you got here, my personal friend, James Ironwood, flew you here in an airship. Your teammates are all in excellent health, as are you by the looks of things. As for the test...I believe the final message simply said head to the airbase and get on a ship. It never said you had to actually get to the airbase. So I would say you passed with flying colors, given the circumstances."

Jaune opened and closed his mouth several times as he attempted to process the slew of answers that had just been fired at him.

"I take it by your silence that my answers were satisfactory and I can move on with my part now, yes?" He smirked and took a swig of the mug that was always present in his hand. "Now, tomorrow morning, you and the other team that boarded with you will head to the auditorium. We will give you your official team name and afterwards you will follow me to my office so James and I can answer any questions that you will have regarding the nature of your exam."

"Meaning you'll tell us why it was unnecessarily brutal this year?" Weiss asked rather icily. Jaune tilted his head at her question. What was she talking about? Weren't all the initiations like that? It only seemed natural for the most prestigious hunter-school in Vytal. He turned to Blake to see her also glaring suspiciously at the headmaster. Ruby appeared to be the only other one just as confused as him.

Ozpin, for his part, only smiled mirthfully. "Yes, that is exactly what I mean." He bowed lightly to them. "I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. By the way, it's good to see that you pulled through, Mr. Arc." What was that supposed to mean? Did he almost die? Oh wait, yeah he did. Like a dozen times. Before he could respond the Headmaster had made his exit.

"Is he always that cryptic?" Jaune had thought his messages on the scrolls had been bad. Talking to him in person was even worse.

"He better be less cryptic tomorrow morning or he'll be answering to more than just us." Weiss grumbled as she made her way towards the door. "I'm going back to the room. I'll see you all tomorrow." She didn't wait for an answer before she slipped out.

"You better go after her." Blake nodded to Ruby. "Don't want her attempting to assassinate the Headmaster before we even officially start."

Ruby nodded but with a little less enthusiasm than normal. Before Jaune could even react she dashed over and gave him a quick hug. "Thank you for being okay." She whispered into his ear. She pulled back and was gone as quickly as she always was. He didn't even have a chance to ask her what she meant by that. Why...would she thank him? He didn't have the slightest hint of an answer so he turned to Blake.

She was seated in a chair and was smiling warmly at him. Behind that warm smile though was something else, although he couldn't be sure what. Her eyes seemed...concerned? Maybe even distraught? But why? Was she still worried about his health?

"I'm alright now, you know?" He gave her a nervous grin while lifting his arms and flexing them. His muscles were clearly out of practice because the movement caused him to realise how sore he still was. He had to fight every urge in his body to keep from grimacing. He was trying to reassure her, not make it worse.

Her smile slipped slightly and she shook her head. He tilted his head at her in confusion and lowered his arms. Several seconds of silence settled between them as he waited for her to talk. "It's...not your physical health I'm worried about." What the heck was that supposed to mean? "...Why did you lure that Chimera off from us?"

Ah. He had forgotten that she had promised to talk to him about this. At least she didn't seem mad anymore. So he gave her the biggest smile he could. "I told you the other night, I was going to do no matter what it takes to ensure that you guys passed. I'm a man of my word." He patted his chest proudly.

"Even if that promise is going to get you killed?" His smile dropped. Blake wasn't smiling anymore either. She looked very, very serious. She was also being very cryptic about this whole thing.

"What're you trying to ask me?"

"It wasn't a trick question, Jaune." There was no pause between his question and her response. "You called that Chimera off, knowing full well that you would die by doing that. Why then, would you do it anyways?"

"That's-" He didn't understand. What was she so confused about? Of course he would pull off the Chimera for them. "We're friends, Blake."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Were we friends in the cave?" Cave? Was she talking about the Deathstalker? "You by all rights should have died then too. You threw your life away for someone you had only just met an hour before that."

"Blake. If you've got something to say, just say it." Jaune was starting to get frustrated. Blake was being rather indirect, even for her.

Her hands reached forward and gripped one of his tightly. "I'm just...I need to know that you're not suicidal, Jaune!"

"What?!" He physically recoiled from the shock of her statement. "Why would you think that?"

"What am I supposed to think?" She leaned closer and he could see tears gather in the corner of her eyes. "Every chance you had to throw your life away, you gladly took it!"

"Whoa, whoa!" He waved his free hand around defensively as he attempted to calm her down. He had not expected her to get so emotional on him after just waking up. Apparently these thoughts had been building inside her over the past couple days. Now they were all getting released on the only person she could freely talk to: that being him, of course. "I assure you, I enjoy living very much! I have no intention of dying. I was just doing what I thought I had to do to protect you girls. That's why I wanted to become a Hunter in the first place. I want to live my life protecting people."

"Is that so? It looks to me like you're trying to die protecting people." That was kind of twisting his words...not that he could completely deny the truth there was to them.

"That's-" His breath hitched as he tried to deny them anyways. "-not completely true." Her grip on his hand tightened even more if that was possible. He felt all the circulation cut off to it. "Look, I'm not saying I want to die. It's just inevitable that it's how I'm going to die someday. My grandfather died on the battlefield, as did his father, and his father before him-"

"So what?" She cut him off. "They died swinging and so should you? For what? To hold up some twisted family tradition?"

"No!" Why had this conversation gotten so convoluted? "They all lived good lives. They fell in love, married, and raised a family. They died to protect all that. They were heroes!"

"Heroes are for children." She immediately rebuked him. "They were simply casualties in our long battle against the darkness."

"Then I guess I'm a child!" Her attitude towards all this was beginning to frustrate him even further. This was his family that she was talking about now. He had to find a way to turn this on her. There had to be a way to get her to understand. "There must be something you want so much that you would throw your life away for it? What if your death could bring lasting peace between the humans and Faunus?"

Blake for once didn't immediately respond. "If my life could really end all of that hatred between our two species, then of course. What you were trying to do is hardly as weighty as that. Yours was simply a life for a life." He couldn't stop a self-deprecating smile from appearing on his face.

"If my death could save even one person, I would be perfectly happy. Sure, I would be terrified as it happened, but just knowing that it was for someone else would put me at peace." Finally, Blake's grip on his hand loosened and he felt the blood-flow return.

"That's exactly the thing that worries me. Why do you value yourself so little?" Her question came out just above a whisper. For once, her confusion made sense to him. Even though she hid her true heritage, she was still proud of who she was. The very way she walked spoke follows of the self-confidence she harbored. He couldn't claim the same.

"I don't have an answer for that. It's just always been who I am." That was the honest truth. He wanted so badly to be so much more than what he saw of himself. He wanted to be brave, strong, and full of confidence in his abilities. However, he was just Jaune. No matter what he did he couldn't shake that image of the scared, weak, and pitiful person that he was. That was why he had come to Beacon. If anyplace was capable of changing that and allowing him to help people, it was here.

Blake sighed and averted her eyes. Awkward silence claimed them for several seconds.

"I believe you." She started slowly. "I guess this means I'm just going to have to be extra hard on you in your training."

"Wait, what?" He knew she had promised to train him, but he honestly thought that had just been a ploy to convince him to stay. He didn't think she was actually serious about taking time out of her schedule to help him improve. Especially since she was helping him get to a level he should already be at.

"As soon as you're completely healed and we know when classes are I'll set up a schedule." She was so amazing...too amazing. Why would someone like her do something like this for him? Doubt crept into his mind once again and it must have shown on his face, cause Blake tilted her head questioningly. "What's wrong?"

He couldn't believe he was about to ask this. Still, he wasn't sure what else to think anymore. With a heavy blush, he fired off his question. "Blake...do you...like me?"

She snorted at the question and rolled her eyes.

Ouch. A "no" would have been way less hurtful than that.

"Of course I like you. That's what being friends means." Oh, she had misunderstood him. That made him feel a little better but the aftereffect from the sting was still there.

"No, I mean as in-" He bit his tongue before he said the big L-word. "...-like-like. You know?"

A matching blush shot across her face as her eyes widened in shock. "W-What? Why would you ask me that?" He quickly averted his eyes and realized that she was still holding his hand despite everything. She followed his gaze and quickly pulled her own hands away. "Jaune, if this is about that kiss the other night-" Oh dust, he had partially forgotten about that. "-then I assure you it wasn't meant to be anything romantic. I simply- well- it's not like I was opposed to the idea- what I mean to say is- look, it wasn't like that, okay!"

He shook his head frantically. "It wasn't just that. It's just...everything!" He gestured outwardly to emphasize his point. "You nearly cried a few seconds ago because you thought I was suicidal and now you're offering to actually train me. It's just...I don't know." He barely whispered out the last part. "I've never had a girl be so nice to me before."

Blake sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Jaune, my feelings for you aren't romantic." She said that plainly enough. "That being said though, you are the first friend I've ever had so if I come off a little...forceful, that's probably why. Truth is, I'm not really sure what I'm doing. All I know is, you're important to me...as my first and currently, only friend."

"R-Right. Thanks for making that clear." He inhaled and exhaled deeply. He felt...relieved? That was kind of odd. Shouldn't he feel kinda crummy that such a beautiful girl as Blake didn't have feelings for him? Then again, it only made sense. There was no way he was worthy enough for her affections. Did that explain his relief then? If she had said "yes" would he have had to find a way to turn her down? It frightened him a little that he didn't know the answer to that.

"Just to be clear...you don't have romantic feelings for me, right?" Her words broke him from his thoughts and he glanced at her with a nervous grin. She was gazing at him with restrained anxiety. She was likely worried she had just hurt his feelings.

"No, I don't." He shook his head before realizing how bad that sounded. "W-What I mean to say is, you're beautiful and amazing and I would be lucky to have someone like you but-" He quit talking and opened and closed his hands as he tried to grabbed the proper words.

"Jaune. It's okay." She rested a hand gently on his shoulder. "I get it. I'm glad we were able to clear the air tonight. If I'm being honest, I was a little afraid you would get the wrong idea when you woke up. I was a little too nervous to bring it up myself though."

"Ha, sometimes I forget you're about as socially awkward as I am." She laughed in response. This was good. Back to normal now. Those conversations had gotten a little too heavy for him. "So how are Ruby and Weiss? Surely you bonded with them while I was asleep."

"Actually…" Blake scratched her cheek guiltily.

He couldn't believe it. They had been talking when he woke up. "Are you serious? I thought I had been out for two days."

"Ruby's sister was here whenever she was. Her sister is the exact opposite of people like us. It made having any meaningful conversations with her impossible. Weiss, we didn't even try."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "We're going to be on their team for the rest of our time here, Blake. You should at least try to talk to them."

"Look, I'm sorry that neither one of them decided to save my life from a Deathstalker as an icebreaker." He would have to remember that that seemed to be the quickest way to make meaningful friendships. "Anyways, I think Ruby and I will get along. You seem to already be pals with her so that should help. Weiss though-" She made a face that suggested she tasted something bitter.

Jaune shook his head and shifted himself. The cushions behind him were very comfortable and he was starting to feel incredibly sleepy all the sudden. Apparently two days wasn't enough for him. "We can hang out with them more tomorrow. I'm sure it'll all work out." He let out a yawn. It must have been infectious because Blake let out her own yawn.

"I'll see you in the morning for that thing the Professor was talking about." Blake pushed the chair back and crawled into the next bed over. He looked at her in confusion. "I've been sleeping here. I told you I was concerned you'd get the wrong idea." She smiled at him once more before rolling over. He noticed she kept her bow on as she slept. "Goodnight, Jaune."

"Yeah. Goodnight, Blake."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>So...that got way more deep than I ever intended. Jaune continues to have his issues and I really plan to play on those as the story progresses. I'm taking a much darker tone with the way he feels about himself than the show takes it, but I don't believe these thoughts and feelings are outside his character either. Meanwhile, Blake continues to be difficult for me to write.

Next time, the teams get their names(finally) and the true nature of their initiation comes to light as their future at Beacon is determined.


	7. Leader

**Auburn**

_Chapter 7 - Leader_

* * *

><p>Jaune shuffled nervously on his feet.<p>

He was standing by himself behind the curtains that led to the main stage of the auditorium. An auditorium that was very quickly filling up with all the other students in the school. He anxiously tugged at his school uniform. Normally, he would be wearing his hoodie and jeans but they had pretty much been tattered beyond repair during initiation.

Where the heck was Blake? She had said she was going to get Ruby and Weiss so why hadn't they returned yet? How far away were their dorm rooms from here actually? He had no idea. He didn't know anything about the layout of this school. He would have gotten lost coming here if the scary Professor Goodwitch hadn't guided him.

"Hey, look who it is!" The voice of Ruby's sister caused him to turn hopefully to the back entrance. Unfortunately, it was just her team and his wasn't with them. "Disappointed to see us, Captain Atlas?" She grinned cheekily as she punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"You know I don't come from Atlas, right?" He really wasn't sure what was up with Yang and always coming up with nicknames for everyone. "Anyways, I was actually hoping your sister and my team was with you. Did you see them?"

Yang shook her head. "I can't say that I did. They better get a move on. This thing is about to start soon. Suck if you had to go out there by yourself to represent the team." Great, as if he wasn't nervous enough. Was she trying to freak him out more? Knowing Yang, the answer was yes.

"I'm sure they'll be here. No need to worry." Pyrrha gave her partner a sharp glance before resting her hand comfortingly on Jaune's shoulder.

"Thanks." Jaune nodded appreciatively to her. He then looked at their last two teammates. He didn't know either of their names, despite having fought side by side with them briefly. He decided he was going to fix that. Especially since one of them was another guy. He was starting to feel effeminate being surrounded constantly by woman (not that it was much different growing up). "Hey, my name is Jaune Arc." He walked up to them and extended a hand. "Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it." It might have been getting redundant to say it, but it still felt like the easiest way for him to break the ice. It had already worked twice, why not a third time?

"Classy." He heard Yang snicker from behind.

"Howdy there Jauney!" The girl bounced up to him and gripped his hand so hard he thought it was going to pop. "My name is Nora and I'm super happy to meet you, even though we technically already met, but this is our first time talking! You passed out last time before we could talk. How are you feeling since then? I haven't seen you around, like at all. Do you like Pancakes? I bet you do. We're going to be the bestest of friends, I can tell already!"

"Nora." The boy in green said with exasperation. Nora paused for a second to look at him. Jaune was thankful for the brief respite. He had not planned to be verbally assaulted. Where the heck was his team?

"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce him. He's Lie Ren! We're childhood friends! We've been together for like, ever! Oh, but not together-together, you know? We're just friends! Best friends! What about you? Do you have a best friend! Oh my gosh! I just had the greatest idea! Your best friend and my best friend should hang out and then they'll become friends! But not best friends. That would leave us without our besties. We can't have that!"

"Alright, Queen of the castle, come on." Yang grabbed Nora by the back of her collar and started dragging her away from him.

"Queen of the castle?"

"Don't ask." Pyrrha mumbled while rubbing her forehead therapeutically. Apparently her team was a bit of a handful even for her.

Jaune just shrugged. Whatever. Now was his chance to get to know this Lie Ren guy. He turned to him and opened his mouth.

"Mr. Arc!" Professor Goodwitch snapped as she walked into the room. Seriously, was this on purpose? "Where is the rest of your team! Everyone is seated and the Headmaster is going to introduce you all any minute!"

"Uhh…" Jaune opened and closed his mouth as he tried to formulate a good excuse. "...they got lost on the road of life?" Why did it sound like he was asking a question when he was supposed to be making excuses? The Professor's eye twitched and he could have sworn he saw her grip on her riding crop tighten a little.

"We're here!" Ruby bust into the room just as she opened her mouth to reprimand him further. Blake and Weiss followed just behind her. Professor Goodwitch stared at the three of them for several moments before walking out with a huff. She didn't even ask what had kept them.

"I'm so happy to see you guys!" Jaune cried as he ran up to the three of them. "What the heck happened? I almost had to go out there by myself!"

"This one-" Weiss hiked her thumb at a sheepish Ruby. "-took off down the wrong way. You know how fast she is, of course. Took us forever just to grab her so we could drag her over here."

"Hehe, my bad." Ruby stuck her tongue out, tilted her head and lightly bopped it with her fist. It was actually a really cute gesture and Jaune found his anger dissipating against his will. Damn it, why was he so weak to quirky girls? He should be better than this!

He let out a sigh as he reached his hand forward and jostled her hair. "Way to go, Crater Face. I thought we'd already established that you're not supposed to take point? You have no sense of direction."

Ruby giggled as he pulled his hand back. "Neither do you Vomit Boy. I bet someone had to hold your hand to get you here." Dang, she had him there.

"You're both hopeless," Weiss crossed her arms and glared at them.

"If I recall, you almost led us the wrong way several times yourself in Forever Fall so you don't have much room to talk." Blake's comment caused Weiss to go red in the face but she didn't have anything to say in response.

Jaune grinned at his best friend. "Great, Blake is the official map-bearer of the group! Any objections?"

"Nope!"

"Nay."

Ruby and Weiss responded respectively.

"Wait, what?"

"Enjoy your new title, buddy." Jaune patted her lightly on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Oh, what am I? What am I?" Ruby bounced around excitedly as she asked Jaune.

Surprisingly it was Weiss who responded. "Mascot."

Half-second of silence later:

"That seems appropriate."

"Definitely mascot material."

Blake commented and then Jaune.

"What the heck!" Ruby folded her arms and pouted at them.

"Cheer up, Rubes." Yang strolled back over and draped an arm over her shoulder. "It means they think you're cute." This caused her to blush.

"Ah, nothing like young camaraderie." Ozpin had strolled into the room without anyone noticing. All eight pairs of eyes were immediately watching him with varying levels of anxiety. He took a sip of his mug and made eye-contact with each of them in turn before speaking again. "I recommend holding off on assigning more team positions until after you know who the leaders of your team are." He looked between Jaune and Weiss meaningfully.

"Then let's get this over with! I'm dying to know what these past few days have been about!" Naturally, it was Yang that spurred Ozpin to get on with it. An embarrassed Pyrrha could only shake her head.

"I suppose it is about that time." Ozpin leisurely strolled forward and towards the curtains that separated them from the audience. "All the student's have been seated and are anxiously awaiting this revelation. Now then, could I ask for your two teams to line up in the order I give you." He pointed with his cane to the right end of the stage. "Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie: line up in that order over there." He then indicated to the left end. "Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose: line up in that order over there. Face the audience and do try to stand up straight. We're showing you off after all."

"Showing us off?" Jaune whispered as he took his spot next to Weiss. She only shrugged in response. Now that he thought about it, she was probably used to things like this. Too bad he wasn't.

Ozpin took his place in the center of the stage and tapped his cane twice on the ground. As if on cue, the curtains pulled back, revealing the nine of them to the audience. Jaune had to squint as floodlights beamed directly into his eyes. He had to fight the urge to raise his hands to block it out and instead held them staunchly behind his back. He tried to make out the mass of figures behind the lights but they came out as little more than shadows to him. He could tell there was a lot of them though. Beacon's auditorium was by no means small yet every single seat was filled up. They couldn't all possibly be students could they? Beacon surely didn't accept that many applicants. Who else could they be though? And why would they be there to see them?

The loud murmur of voices quieted almost as immediately as the curtains opened and the whole room was filled with a silence far too eerie for as many people as there were. It was like no one even dared breath before Ozpin began talking. "I thank you all for taking your time to attend today. As per usual, I will keep this...brief." Jaune remembered the last time this man had said that. His words then had been anything but encouraging.

"Standing behind me are eight students that proved themselves beyond extraordinary on the field in the special initiation held a few days prior. They passed numerous obstacles set up for them and defeated a myriad of Grimm on their travels...including an infamous Chimera." Several gasps were heard and excited chat broke out from the audience. Jaune had no idea that killing one of those things was such a big deal.

Ozpin held his hand up and everyone became silent once again. "So...I present to you, Beacon's candidates for Project Lambent." What the heck was that? Jaune had never heard of it before.

"The first team consists of Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie." He held his hand out towards them and as he said each of their names they took a step forward into a spotlight that had appeared in front of them. "They will form team PYRN (Pyrene), led by Miss Nikos." He then turned towards Jaune and his team and Jaune felt himself tense up. They were about to be called on. Was he sweating? Yeah, he was pretty sure he was. Could the audience see that? Oh dust, he hoped not.

"The second team will consist of Jaune Arc-" Jaune shuffled forward, incredibly conscious of every move he made as he did. "-Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby Rose." They each took their place under the spotlight down the line from him. "They will form team AWBR (Auburn), led by Mr Arc."

"Huh?" Crap, he hadn't meant to ask that out loud. Seriously, had he just misheard Ozpin? Surely he must of. There was no way in hell he was made team leader. He checked his teammates expressions but they only helped confirm his nightmare. Weiss looked very, and he meant very, nonplussed. That was putting it lightly. Blake wasn't showing much expression but he could see an approving smile and coming from her that spoke volumes. Ruby was giving him a huge thumbs-up.

He turned back to Ozpin and saw the older man give him a small nod and mouth the word "Congratulations." No, no, no. This had to be a mistake. He didn't want to be a leader. He didn't deserve to be leader. What's more, he was leader for some team that was part of this 'Project Lambent.' Should he say something? Tell them this was all some kind of mistake. Maybe a typo? He should probably wait until after they got away from this audience.

"And there you have it. Any questions you have will be happily taken up by my staff while I debrief these teams on their new enrollment." Ozpin finished as quickly as promised and turned on his heels. As he did, the audience exploded into a volley of words which he promptly ignored. "If you children would follow me." He waved them forward with his cane and they all sprung into action at once. "We have much to discuss."

"That is an understatement." He heard Weiss growl this out and hastened his pace a little. He could feel her glare holes into the back of his head.

It was going to be a long walk to the office.

* * *

><p>Blake observed Jaune's back carefully as they all followed after the headmaster through the halls of Beacon. The route they were taking was rather unorthodox seeing as the headmasters office was pretty much just on the other side of the auditorium. If Blake had to guess, she would say he was dodging all the curious eyes of the attendees.<p>

Back to Jaune, he seemed like an anxious wreck. Every subtle noise caused him to flinch and glance around nervously. Then there were the brief glimpses he kept giving Weiss. He would make eye-contact with her for a second, his eyes would widen in fear and he would quickly turn back forward as his pace hastened for a couple steps. He repeated this about every five seconds.

Blake turned to Weiss and saw her glaring daggers at him. If looks could kill...well, death was probably the most pleasant thing the heiress was plotting for their new leader at the moment. It was very clear that she had wanted to become leader of the team, and probably felt she deserved it. The fact that it was Jaune of all people was probably just ripping her apart on the inside. The thought of that made Blake ecstatic.

This of course wasn't the only reason she was glad Jaune was made leader. If it would've been any of them, Blake was glad it was him. The reasons why she didn't want it to be Weiss went without saying. Ruby seemed more than capable enough, but even Blake had to admit she would find it hard to accept orders from a fifteen-year-old girl. She had no desire to be put in the spotlight herself. While she was sure she had some practical skills to bring forth, being vocal about them wasn't exactly her strong suit.

That really only left Jaune as her obvious choice. She trusted his judgement (provided his own life wasn't the one on the line). He had proven multiple times that he could come up with effective strategies on the fly and better yet, communicate them understandably. While he was without a doubt, a doofus, he seemed to shine under pressure. Perhaps most importantly, this could only be good for his confidence issues. Once he settled into his role and started to realize what an excellent leader he truly was, perhaps he would naturally start to feel better about himself. It was worth a shot at least.

Blake had no doubt Ruby was on board with following him. Now that just meant convincing Weiss. This caused her to scowl as she thought of what she might have to do to coerce the heiress into willingly following Jaune. Dust forbid she might actually have to try and befriend her! Still, it would all be worth it if it would help out her best friend.

"Here we are." Ozpin took his place behind and his desk and with a jolt, Blake realized they were here. She really had to quit zoning out while thinking. It was always a bad habit of hers.

The big man that had picked them up from Forever Fall was standing next to Ozpin. "It's good to see you all in good health." His gaze lingered on Jaune for a moment before he continued. "Before we begin, I want you to know that I think you performed extraordinarily out there. Very few fully-trained hunters could have accomplished what the eight of you did. My name is James Ironwood, General of the Atlas Military. I am here to fill you in on the details of Project Lambent."

Not one of them responded. Blake glanced at the others to see they were waiting with as much baited anticipation as she was. Apparently, none of them had heard of this Project either. That was strange in and of itself. Very little happened without at least someone catching wind of it. From what she could tell, their teams came from pretty diverse backgrounds too. It seemed impossible that not one of them had heard even a rumor about this before now.

"Let me begin by asking you all a question." Ironwood took their silence as his cue to continue. "What do you think the main purpose of training hunters and huntresses is?" His question was greeted with more silence. "No one has any idea?" He asked mockingly.

"To defeat evil!" Ruby declared boldly.

"To protect others." Jaune mumbled his answer.

"I know, it's so we can get really good at blowing things up!" That was of course, Nora.

"Hunters and Huntresses are trained to perform numerous tasks. There's no limit to the things we might be asked to do-"

"That's not what I'm asking." Ironwood cut Pyrrha off. "I asked what the main purpose was. Yes, Hunters and Huntresses have evolved overtime to be glorified peacekeepers, but there is a much more simple task that they originally had. That is to this day their true purpose."

"Hunting Grimm." It was the ever-quiet Ren that provided the answer.

"Precisely." Ironwood pointed excitedly into the air. "Hunters and Huntresses are trained to hunt and kill Grimm. Most of society has lost sight of this however, and now Grimm are becoming a bigger threat than ever. Any year now and they could overrun one of the Kingdoms we're working so hard to simply protect. We need to go on the offensive. The problem with going on the offensive is that we simply don't have enough Hunters in the world to designate them all to this task. Society has gotten too dependent on them to keep peace within the Kingdoms that they fail to send them outside of them to truly do their jobs. That leaves us with two routes with which to travel. Accept more students by pulling from a pool of those less qualified…" Jaune visibly flinched. "...or focus on the best and make them even better. Quantity vs. Quality. Project Lambent is the result of us choosing the latter and gearing them specifically at the destruction of Grimm."

"Which brings us to what you've all been waiting to hear. Project Lambent...is essentially a new academy designed to do just that. It is being funded by a personal friend of mine and he will be acting headmaster there. Multiple academies in Remnant will be sending candidates to this school. In total, there will only be about eighty students attending. Significantly smaller than what even Beacon accepts. You were all chosen based on your performances after a special evaluation. You're of course aware of the details of your own evaluation." Blake didn't need to be reminded of that hellish thing they called initiation.

"So...you're saying we won't be Beacon students?" Jaune raised his hand as he asked his question. Ironwood turned to regard him and he lowered it before flashing a nervous smile.

"If I may, James." Ozpin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. Ironwood merely nodded and extended his hand for the headmaster to continue. "You will be learning at Lambent, however, you will be there as representatives of Beacon. How you perform there will reflect on Beacon's status. Perform well, and you will be rewarded...perform poorly, and you'll be given incentives to improve yourselves." Jaune audibly gulped.

"So...we're competing against the other students there?" Ruby asked the question Blake was just thinking.

"That's correct." Ironwood took the conversation back over. "A little competition is always a good motivator. Now onto the finer details of what you can expect." He picked up a stack of envelopes and walked over to pass them out. Blake grabbed hers and flipped it open to see numerous pages inside. After Ironwood finished, he resumed talking. "There are two kingdoms on the continent of Vytal. They exist on almost opposite ends of one another. Located in the middle of the continent is a vast badlands. Grimm are numerous and the landscape is brutal. This is where Lambent has been built." Blake flipped one of the pages to see a giant metal tower. It looked almost like a lighthouse to her. "You will be at this academy for the next two years of your life. Expect to go on numerous excursions into the surrounding landscape where every ounce of your skills will be tested. While not on missions, you will stay at Lambent. You will of course have classes as you would here at Beacon, but they'll be a little different. We're training you for Grimm. Expect everything to be geared towards that."

"Professor Peter Port will be going with you." Ozpin spoke again. "He is our Grimm Studies teacher here at Beacon. If you ever need anything, he will be acting as Beacon's advisor. The other schools are sending staff of their own. They will of course teach you as well, but remember, they're going to be looking out for their own students. Their standing is determined on your success as well." He turned to Ironwood and smiled. "I think that is enough information for them for now."

"Yes, you have your packets. Review them. If you have any questions about the details, Ozpin, Peter, or myself will be more than happy to answer them for you. You leave in a week." He broke into a big grin as he made eye-contact with them all. "Congratulations. I wish you luck at Lambent. Students of my own will be your competition."

Several moments of silence settled between them as Blake and the others tried to take everything in that was just thrown at them. It was almost too unreal. They had just survived the most brutal set of tasks they had ever faced...all to attend this school. Now, they were a week away from being shipped off to about as far from civilization as you can get. All for some special 'Project'. If you asked Blake, it sounded to her like they were guinea pigs for some twisted experiment. Still, this was an incredible opportunity. Their talents had been recognized and if this Lambent was all it was cracked up to be, they might to be first of a new, more powerful breed of Hunters.

"Do...do we just go to our dorms for now?" Pyrrha asked awkwardly. It definitely seemed like they had been dismissed but not a single one of them had made an effort to move from their spots. Probably still the shock.

Ozpin smirked at them. "For now, that would be best. You are of course allowed to use all the facilities here at Beacon for the remainder of your stay. That includes the training room, and the library. You are still Beacon students after all."

Pyrrha took a hesitant step backwards. Then another. Finally, she turned and began making her way for the door, albeit with her head turned to watch the headmaster on her way out. As she moved, her team followed after all at once, as if they had been set free from some invisible confinement. Blake turned to follow after and she heard Jaune fall into place next to her.

"Wait right there, Arc!" Weiss snapped and everyone paused. All their eyes turned to see her pointing dramatically at their poor, fearful leader. "You and I are going to have a chat with the headmaster...privately." She sent a telling glare to everyone else to make her point clear.

Blake glared right back at Weiss and stepped up to Jaune, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Anything you have to say to our leader, you can say to all of us." She practically spat these words out.

"Guys, don't fight." Ruby quickly got between the two girls. She shifted her gaze fearfully between the two of them.

"I have no intention of fighting anyone. I simply wish to talk to the headmaster about his choice of appointment. I figured I would give Arc the chance to defend himself." Blake doubted Weiss' words were hardly as moral as they sounded. She just wanted to rip Jaune's already failing confidence apart even further. That and be made leader.

"You've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to take orders from you. Jaune was made the leader and he is the one I'm going to follow." The tension between the two of them worsened as Weiss narrowed her eyes at Blake. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and she heard PYRN shuffle awkwardly backwards as they tensed for combat.

"Weiss, just give it a chance." Ruby quietly pleaded.

"You're taking her side!?" Weiss shouted with indignation. "You're supposed to be my partner!"

"I'm not taking sides!" Ruby's voice escalated after Weiss' fury turned on her. "Jaune was made the leader and I think we should respect that decision." Blake felt herself smirking at the back of Ruby's head. With all three of them aligned against Weiss, it would be easy to force her to back down. You couldn't become team leader through coercion if no one was on your side.

"Guys, it's alright. I'll hear what she has to say to say. You can head out." Oh god damnit. Blake had forgotten that Jaune was an idiot that probably didn't want to be leader to begin with. There was no way she was going to let him talk his way out of this. It was best for all of them.

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "Don't you dare let her be leader. You're the only leader I'll follow. Just believe in yourself a little."

He gave her an appreciative smile and patted the hand that was still on his shoulder. "Thanks Blake. We're just going to talk it over. If Ozpin likes what she has to say and makes her leader, then that is his decision. We should all respect that." He made a point of meeting Ruby's eyes as he said the last line.

"Jaune, you don't have to do this." Ruby shook her head and stared at him with the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could manage.

"I do have to do this." He affirmed himself and took a commanding stance. "As your current team leader, I'm telling you two to trust me. We'll meet you guys out there in a few minutes." Blake clicked her teeth and Ruby lowered her shoulders in dejection.

"James, if you would show the others out." Ozpin finally spoke up and Blake remembered they had just had this whole confrontation in front of two of the most influential people in the world. They would be lucky if they didn't just revoke their acceptance to this special Project.

"Of course." Ironwood nodded, his face a mask of indifference. It was impossible for her to gauge what it was he was thinking as he walked up to them. He placed one of his big hands on Ruby's shoulder. "Come on, let's leave them to it."

"Jaune." Blake prepared to make one last ditch effort to convince him. He turned to look at her and the words on the tip of her mouth died as she looked into his blue eyes. The expression he put into them was that of reassurance. He had some kind of plan. Whatever this was about, it wasn't about him rolling over and giving Weiss leader.

"I don't need to force you out, right?" Ironwood asked as he passed by their side. Blake allowed her eyes to hold contact with Jaune's a moment longer before pulling away to end their silent conversation. She didn't know exactly what it was, but she knew it was going to be alright now. She just had to believe in him.

"No, I'm leaving." Blake fell in line with Ruby and they walked out together. PYRN scrambled after them from behind and Ironwood shut the door as he left. They rode the elevator down to the ground floor.

"I recommend that all of you get plenty of rest. Your experiences at Lambent will be extremely taxing, even for the most diligent of students. I'll be flying you there personally next week." The door opened just as Ironwood finished and he walked ahead of the rest of them. The others shuffled after him in silence for several seconds.

"Well," Yang was naturally the first to recover. "Talk about awkward!"

"Do you think they'll be fine?" Pyrrha looked at the elevator to Ozpin's office with great concern.

"I really hope Weiss isn't too harsh on him." Ruby twiddled her fingers as her eyes shifted aimlessly around.

"Jaune'll be fine." Blake rested a reassuring hand on Ruby's head.

"How do you figure?" Yang didn't sound convinced. "You were the most against this while we were in there. What changed your mind?"

"I just remembered something about Jaune as we were leaving, that's all." Blake didn't elaborate any further. She knew what she was talking about and that was enough for her.

After all, Jaune knew what he was doing.

* * *

><p>Jaune had no idea what the hell he was doing.<p>

Several minutes ago, Jaune wanted nothing more than to give up his role as leader to anyone else on the team. Ruby would probably make a better leader than he would. Yet here he stood now, prepared to go up against Weiss to maintain his position. He wasn't going to hand it over. Not after Blake and Ruby both vouched for him. He may not have any respect for himself, but he had only the greatest respect for them...and if they believed in him, then he was sure has hell going to give it a shot.

That just left him one really, really big obstacle: convincing Weiss. It was no secret that she wasn't very fond of him, and he couldn't blame her. Still, things like that didn't matter. He wanted, no, he needed her support. If he was going to lead this team and keep them all alive, he needed to know they would follow his lead. That was what was most important to him, keeping them alive. With this resolve in place, he took a defiant stance right in front Ozpin's desk. Weiss stepped up next to him, prepared to make her points.

Ozpin had what Jaune could only describe as an amused grin as he shifted his eyes back and forth between the two of them. It almost looked like he had expected this to happen. It wouldn't surprise Jaune at all if that was actually the case. This guy did seem to get kicks out of putting him in difficult situations. "Well then, how about we do this in a proper candidate style. Miss Schnee, I'll let you give your points first since you're the one challenging. Mr Arc will then have his turn to defend his position. I'll ask you both some questions after you've given your piece and once I'm satisfied will make my decision."

"Acceptable." Weiss crossed her arms and sent Jaune and sideways glare.

He only shrugged. "Sounds fair to me."

"Very well then. Miss Schnee, you have the floor." He gestured to her with his mug.

"Thank you, Professor." She straightened her stance and cleared her throat. "The reasons I'm a far more suitable candidate as opposed to this buffoon-" Man, she didn't have to be so mean. "- are numerous. For starters, heritage. I am the next in line to run the prestigious Schnee Dust company. I have been groomed my whole life on how to make decisions and and run a company that has its hand in every kingdom. Decisions that will affect the lives of thousands on a daily basis. Leading three students hardly seems a challenge when compared to that. Next is skill: I effortlessly dispatched numerous Grimm on my own out there while Arc here blundered about trying to kill even the most mundane of adversary we came across. Need I remind you Professor, that it was my strategy that we employed to kill the Chimera. Most of the credit for that kill without a doubt, goes to myself. I am not saying that Arc is without his merits, but none of them contribute to effectively leading a team. I could go on, but I think I've painted a pretty clear picture with just that. I have no desire to waste more of your time than necessary."

Ozpin didn't say anything. Instead he wore the same amused smile he had the whole time since this thing started. He shifted his gaze off Weiss and directed it to Jaune. Well, it looked like it was his turn. He hadn't prepared a speech nearly as elaborate as Weiss'. He was going back to his trusty fall-back of winging it. It usually worked, why not now?

He inhaled deeply and let out a deep breath. "A lot of the things Weiss just said are true. Killing even the weakest Grimm is a difficult task for me. I'm not all that smart. Most of the things I came up with were desperate attempts to survive. However, I will do whatever it takes to keep this team together." Weiss scoffed at this claim. He didn't blame her. She didn't trust him. That was the thing that separated the two of them. "Blake and Ruby trust me. They'll lend me their support whenever I need it. That's the one thing that initiation really taught me: trust in your comrades."

He turned to Weiss. "You came back for Blake and I. Thank you for that."

She blushed lightly as her face contorted in confusion. "W-what?"

"I just realized that I never thanked you. Ruby told me you had been prepared to knock out that scary General to bring the ship back. Blake may have her doubts, but I know deep down you're a good person. You're all of the things you just said you were. You're smart, resourceful, beautiful, and kind of harsh. I trust you completely. I know it's not what you wanted, but I want you to lend me your talents to help make this team the best it can be as my vice-commander. Yours is the only role we hadn't decided on yet, after all." Weiss opened and closed her mouth, unable to form words. Multiple emotions swapped upon her face every second before settling on one of contemplation.

Jaune turned back to Ozpin. He hadn't meant to start addressing Weiss in the middle, it had just kind of happened. "Sorry, that's all I have to say. You can make your decision now."

Ozpin's amused smile morphed into a smirk. "I don't think there is any need for that anymore, do you Miss Schnee?"

"Huh?" Weiss was snapped out of her stupor and pointed at her own face in confusion, unsure if Ozpin meant her. He merely stared at her as it was obvious he wasn't talking to anyone else. Weiss' face switched to one of resignation and she let out a tired sigh. "How stupid. Like I could compete against such blunt honesty as that. Scheming politicians were much easier to deal with."

"So then…?" Jaune couldn't believe it. Was she saying what he thought she was?

"I'm agreeing to be your vice-commander...temporarily." Jaune couldn't help the big grin he felt reach across his face. Weiss grimaced as she saw it. "You better be prepared for me to call you out on your blunders though! If I ever feel you're not suited to the task I won't hesitate to rip your authority from you! The only reason I'm agreeing to this is because Belladonna and Ruby won't follow me at all if I take the position from you now."

"I can accept that." He took a couple steps towards her and stuck his hand out.

Weiss glared at it for a second before reaching her own hand forward and giving his a brief shake. "You better convince that partner of yours of this. This won't work otherwise."

"Blake will understand. We're all in this together." He tried to assure her but the doubt remained on her face. "We won't know for sure until we try. Come on, let's go talk to them." He nodded his head towards the door and she took a step towards it.

"Actually, I would like a word alone with Mr Arc for a second." Ozpin called out, stopping them both in their tracks. Weiss gave Jaune a confused look but he could only shrug. He looked to the headmaster who had yet to move from behind his desk. Whatever it was he wanted to talk to him about, Jaune hadn't the slightest clue.

He sighed before nodding to Weiss. "Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you." Her gaze lingered on him for a second before listening to what he said.

Jaune turned back to Ozpin and heard the door shut behind him. He waited for the headmaster to talk. Several seconds went by and nothing was said. Still, Jaune waited. The only audible noise in the room were the numerous gears both above and below him as they turned. This room was rather eerie actually. Who had glass floors anymore? Those things were just freaky.

A full minute went by and Ozpin still said nothing. They only thing he did at all was take a sip from his mug from time to time. Was this some sort of test? Maybe Ozpin was waiting for him to say something first? What if he was waiting for someone else to join them? Who would that be though? Maybe it was school security? What if he knew along that Jaune had faked his transcripts to get in and had launched him into the forest thinking he would quit? Now that that hadn't happened was he going to forcefully eject him from the school? Wait, that didn't make sense. He wouldn't have made him team leader if he was just going to expel him.

"Do you always let your emotions show so readily on your face, Mr. Arc?" Ozpin finally said something.

"Huh?" Jaune was suddenly very aware of every muscle in use in his face. His face was undoubtedly contorted in something akin to pure panic. "Umm...yes?" Note to self, never play poker. He would be broke.

"Hmm." Ozpin merely nodded at Jaune's response. "It's been awhile since I've met someone as entertaining as yourself Mr. Arc." Jaune knew it! This guy got kicks out of everything he put him through! "You won Miss Schnee over rather quickly. I can't help but wonder if that was a calculated move or more of your fight-or-flight instincts doing the talking for you."

What was this guy talking about now? How could Jaune have calculated any of that? He had just said the truth. "Weiss isn't as cold-hearted as she pretends to be. Everything I said was true."

Ozpin tapped his desk as he considered his words. "Interesting. If I'm being honest, I didn't expect you to defend your position. I thought you would have tried to convince me to promote her to leader instead. It's very rare for someone to go against my expectations like that."

Jaune ran his hand through his hair and gave a guilty grin. "I had honestly planned to do the same up until I saw how against it Blake and Ruby were. For the sake of keeping the team together I'm willing to bear the weight of this position."

"Oh?" Ozpin raised a curious eyebrow. "And what weight is that?"

"The weight of their lives of course." Jaune's face and stance settled into staunch determination. "No matter what happens out there, I'm going to protect the three of them with my life...and my decisions."

Ozpin lifted his hands and crossed his fingers in front of his mouth as he leaned forward. Jaune could've sworn he saw him smile before doing that. "That right there is precisely why I made you the leader of this team. I imagine it is this resolve of yours that has earned Miss Belladonna's unwavering trust. I can only imagine how impossible that is normally to earn. She's also clearly had a positive influence on you. You could gain a lot to display this kind of assurance more often Mr. Arc. I'm expecting great things from you in Lambent. You and the rest of AWBR. Which brings me to the last thing I wished to discuss with you."

Ozpin pulled open a drawer from his desk and began shuffling through some papers. He pulled out a loan file and and gently tossed it to the far side of the desk, closest to Jaune. "I have my concerns about this school, you see."

"Concerns?" Jaune titled his head in confusion. "Like what?"

"James is certain that this school is best for everyone in the world. He truly believes that if we don't change the way we do things soon it might be too late. I don't think he's entirely wrong, but I also think he's excluding one group of people when he says everyone."

"Who?"

"You and your fellow students, Mr. Arc." Jaune instinctively snapped his head back. Ozpin's voice had a small hint of...resentment in it. Not directed at him, thankfully, but it was there. When Ozpin continued it was gone and his voice was as monotone as usual. "You are all so young. I worry that this academy is built so far from society so it can structure you all in anyway it sees fit. That it doesn't see the need to raise young adults with healthy minds because its only goal is to have you exterminate Grimm."

"Stop, stop right there!" Jaune waved his hands frantically in front of his face and took a couple hesitant steps back. "Why would you support something like this if you have so many worries about it?"

"With or without Beacon's support, it was going to happen. By agreeing to go along with it, I can maintain my relationship with James and the other schools that are also sending attendees. Also, this gives me a chance to send someone in that can observe and report everything it is that he witnesses while there."

Jaune nodded as he finally began to understand what the headmaster was talking about. Well, most of it. "That's all well and good, but why are you telling me all this?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow at him and Jaune felt himself break out in a cold-sweat. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no! I'm not some kind of spy! I can barely keep a secret! Trust me, you don't want me to do it! Why not have this Grimm studies teacher do it?"

"Peter is hardly the most...discreet person I know. I'm also concerned that they'll be paying closer attention to him than they will another student." Ozpin reached his hand forward and tapped the folder he had just tossed forward. "Besides, to my understanding, you actually have a couple secrets that you're hiding quite well at the moment."

Jaune gulped. He took an uneasy step forward despite every warning bell in his brain telling him not to. He walked right up to the desk and placed his hand on the folder. They trembled so badly he had a hard time grasping the side of it to flip it open. When he finally managed to, all of his worst fears were confirmed.

His transcripts stared him right back in the face. His incredibly fake, very forged transcripts.

Ozpin didn't say anything more and Jaune knew he didn't need to. Forgery wasn't the worst law one could break but it did have some steep stipulations if caught. Best case scenario he would have to pay a hefty fine and would forever be blacklisted from any and all Hunter training facilities. That would be a bit of a dream-crusher right there. Still, there was one other thing that bothered him. One other thing Ozpin had mentioned just before.

"You...you said I was hiding a couple secrets." There was only one other that he knew of.

"Miss Belladonna's trust is nearly impossible to earn. There's only one way she would trust you so unwaveringly." Damn it, damn it, damn it. Jaune grit his teeth in irritation. Letting himself take the fall was one thing. He could never do anything that had a chance of breaking Blake's trust though.

"Fine. I'll be your spy."

"It's hardly anything that dramatic." Ozpin reached forward and flipped the folder shut before pulling it back. "I just need you to covertly sneak around Lambent from time to time and report to me your findings." That sounded exactly like a spy to him. "I'll give you a much more detailed packet and everything else you'll need before you leave. Thank you for your time. You're dismissed."

Jaune spun on his heels and made his way for the door as quickly as possible. Better not give this guy the chance to change his mind and say something more.

He opened the door and stepped into the elevator. As it lurched and began taking him down to the ground floor he leaned back against the door and slid to his butt. He pulled his knees to his chest and placed his hands on his forehead and pressed in. What the hell had just happened in there? It was as he feared the whole time. The headmaster knew he was a cheat. The only reason he let him stay was so he could use him.

Was...that really right though? Ozpin had no way of predicting that Jaune would end up on the team that would complete the trial for Lambent. If anything it was more likely the opposite would happen and he should've died in that cave while fighting that Deathstalker.

Maybe that meant Ozpin was desperate? He must really be concerned about what was happening at this school. If that was true did that put his team in danger? Well, danger outside of the constant threat of Grimm. As Jaune came to this conclusion it suddenly seemed much more imperative that he take this seriously. Ozpin may have been using underhanded means to enlist him, but he was doing it to protect them all. Thinking about it that way made Jaune feel at least a little better about the whole thing.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the door opposite of him opened. With a resigned sigh, Jaune got to his feet and walked out into the hallway. He had to put this whole thing to the back of his head. He couldn't let any of the others know about this. Just smile and be goofy as usual. That was all he had to do.

To his surprise, no one he knew was around. Both teams had vanished and he only saw a few others students he didn't recognize as they milled around the hall.

Had they gone on ahead? He hoped they didn't get into another fight. Only way to know was to check their room...where was their room again?

Oh crap! He hadn't been to their room once yet. He had no idea where it was. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know where anything in this damn school was. Time to explore.

Just as he decided a direction to go, something flew at him. His reflexes reacted for him and he caught whatever it was. Upon inspecting it he realized it was Crocea Mors. "What the heck?" He looked up to see who had his weapon to see Blake glaring at him.

"Weiss more or less filled me in." Oh shit. Out of the frying pan and into the fire he guessed. At least this would distract him from what Ozpin had said for a minute.

"I'm guessing you're a little angry about all that?" He gripped his sheathed sword a little more closely to his chest in fear as Blake walked up to him.

"A little." She grabbed his hand and began pulling him down the hall.

"Would you believe me if I said that I did what I thought was best for the team?" She seemed way more than 'a little' mad to him. He could practically feel the anger seething off her aura. If her cat ears were visible he'd bet they were flat against her head.

"You thought making that stuck-up princess co-leader was for the best of the team? I'm dying to hear your reasoning on that one." She didn't turn around and continued to pull him along to wherever it was she was taking him. If she wasn't so mad he might've been paying more attention to all the looks they were getting from the other students as they walked hand-in-hand down the hall.

"The official title is vice-commander actually." He grimaced in pain as she squeezed his hand. "Look, I had to compromise somewhere. I'm trying really hard to keep everyone happy right now!"

"You're doing a fantastic job." If that wasn't sarcasm he had no idea what was. Why did Blake seem to feel so betrayed by this? Did she hate Weiss that much? What had she ever done to her?

"Blake, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would upset you this much. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He really didn't need her mad at him now of all times. He had enough on his plate as it was. To his relief, Blake's hand loosened a little on his own.

"I'll accept your apology...after we're done."

"Done?" Blake finally stopped in front of a set of doors. Jaune looked up to see they were in front of Beacon's training facility. The doors slid open and Blake pulled him inside. Jaune had a bad feeling where this was going. "You're going to start training me right now?"

"Right this minute."

"There are others around. Maybe when it's less crowded?" He shifted his eyes to all the others that currently occupied the room with them. They were watching the two of them with great interest.

"No, I really feel like venting my anger at you right now." Man, Blake was sometimes a little too direct around him. He should start having Ruby hang around just as a bodyguard. Blake was much more reserved around her. Blake pulled him up to an unoccupied arena and finally let him go before walking to the other side and taking her battle stance.

"Aww...man." He resigned himself to fate and pulled his sword out. His sheath expanded into his shield and he took his own sloppy combat stance. "I don't suppose you'll go easy?"

Blake smirked at him.

"Not a chance."

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>It's been awhile, huh? I think this is the longest I've gone without updating. My job is really eating into my time lately (retail during the holidays will do that), but I'm hopefully back on track. Writer's block kinda hit me for the first time since I've started writing this story too so it was just a bad combo.

On the note of writing: Coeur Al'Aran has generously agreed to BETA for me so any improvements you notice in writing would be a credit to that. To those who don't know who that is, I highly recommend you check out the story One Good Turn Deserves Another. It's under my favorites and any fan of the Jaune x Blake pairing is missing out by not reading this. Heck, even if it isn't your favorite pairing you're missing out. Go read it anyways.

Some things about this chapter. Pyrene is a colorless chemical commonly used in making dyes, so that's where their team name came from. Also, I've finally used the title in the story. Only took me seven chapters, but I got here. I'm also obviously taking a big step away from Canon now. Not that I had exactly clung too closely to it to begin with, but I digress. I like the original show quite a bit and don't really want to step on its toes by keeping the same location and same bad guys. Grimm are obviously going to be a big focus but I'll also have some human antagonists seeing as they tend to be a little more interesting and less repetitive than mindless super creatures.

Next time: The teams arrives at Lambent, but Weiss is in for a surprise when she recognizes the one running it.


	8. Arrival

**Auburn**

_Chapter 8 - Arrival_

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><p>Blake stared quietly out the window of the airship that was taking them to Lambent with mild curiosity.<p>

The landscape was so different than anything she was ever used to seeing. While she had grown up outside the protection of the kingdoms she had almost always been surrounded by the forest. Out here in the badlands though...there were hardly any trees. Those she could see were dead or on the verge of death. Then again the whole land looked dead. Long stretches of nothing but dirt as far as the eye could see was sometimes her only view. The occasional bubbling swamp, rocky hill, or gouging chasm were the only other landmarks even worth mentioning. Even those seemed mundane to her.

If there was one thing that wasn't dead out here though, it would be the Grimm. She had never seen so many of them in her life. It wasn't just the high number of them that was surprising either. It was the numerous different types. She thought she knew quite a bit about Grimm species but there were several out here she had never even heard rumors of. That was a terrifying thought. Were there Grimm out there that humankind had no knowledge of? Maybe it was better that they didn't. Humans clearly weren't meant to come out this far to begin with.

Yet here she was, about to spend the next couple years of her life wandering this horrid landscape as she slaughtered the hellspawn she was currently thinking about. She shook her head and tore her gaze away from the window. Best not to think about it. Instead she turned her attention to the other occupants of the ship.

Naturally, her attention fell on the boisterous Professor Port first. He was...not what she expected. The Hunters and Huntresses she always visualized and tried to emulate were humble beings. They were people that bared the weight of humanity on their shoulders and asked for nothing in return. Port was anything but that. For the past six hours he had talked nonstop about his exploits on the field. And when she said nonstop, she meant it. At first his stories had been mildly entertaining and the slightest bit interesting. Now it was just ridiculous.

Maybe if everyone had stopped paying attention he would have finally stopped. Unfortunately, Pyrrha was too polite to dismiss their overzealous Professor and Weiss too much of a suck-up. Both of their faces had strained smiles as they attempted to look even the smallest bit interested in his ramblings.

She couldn't bear to look any longer and shifted to the other side of the room. Ren was attempting to meditate on a seat near the corner as far away from Port as possible. The reason Blake said 'trying' was because on either side of him were Nora and Yang and they were playing patty-cake right over the poor boys head. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with them? She sighed and turned to her last two teammates.

Jaune did not handle airships well. He'd spent his first hour trying and failing not to puke his guts out. She and Ruby had hung comfortingly over him until he had near literally puked himself dry. The whole thing had left him so exhausted he had leaned back against a chair and had passed out almost immediately. Ruby, who had helped him into the chair fell asleep next to him.

Now they slept up against one another. Ruby's head was using his shoulder for support and his head was leaned on top of her's. It was cute...in a sibling kind of way.

Blake grimaced as the last part of that thought circled her head. That had been happening a lot this past week. Whenever Jaune and Ruby hung out in particular. She hated to admit it, but it was getting harder and harder to deny it at the same time. She was...jealous. Damn, that sounded really bad.

She had never expected to feel this emotion in her life. Jealousy was something those sleazy schoolgirls in her romance novels felt when the man they loved was spending time with another woman. The difference here was, she didn't love Jaune. Well, she didn't love him romantically. He was her best friend. Okay, he was her only friend. Maybe it was fine that she felt jealous when Jaune spent time with others then? After all, if she wasn't hanging out with him she wasn't hanging out with anyone. She would just be reading a book in a library. So she would naturally be jealous of someone that was taking away her only source of human companionship. Even if that person was another man such as Ren.

Not that Ren and Jaune had ever spoken a word to one another to begin with. That wasn't to say Jaune hadn't tried. He had made several attempts to initiate conversation with the only other male member of their two teams over the past week. The problems were Ren was far too introverted and was constantly guarded by his obnoxious childhood friend. Poor Jaune never made it past Nora.

Blake had thought several times of offering to distract Nora so Jaune could finally have a chance to sit down with him. Thinking and actually doing were two different things though and Blake never actually even tried. Maybe she really was jealous of anyone that tried to befriend him? Or vice-versa in this case.

Maybe she should make an effort to help him out after all? What was the worst that could happen if Jaune and Ren started hanging out? They didn't exactly have a ton in common. Maybe they started training together. After several weeks of this, their bond would grow closer and closer as they helped one another ascend to new heights. One day after training, they would lay on the grass and watch the stars together. Confide in one another their darkest secrets. Then they would decide to head to the men's shower room to wash out all the sweat and dirt accumulated during their training. While in there they would look at one another, no longer any clothes separating the two of them.

Blood trickled down her nose and she had to quickly wipe it away before someone noticed. Yeah, she couldn't allow the two of them to hang out. Not that she thought Jaune swung that way, but better for the safety of her imagination. The last thing she needed was the image of their two faces whenever she read Ninjas of Love. She would never be able to look Jaune in the face again.

Speaking of which, Jaune wasn't exactly doing a good job of meeting her eyes lately either. He seemed really...off. Ever since this whole thing had been announced it seemed like something was chewing at him internally. At first Blake assumed it was just because he thought she was still mad at him.

She had been rather ticked about his decision to make Weiss second-in-command. If she were being honest she was still a little angry about it actually. She also understood why he did it now too. Jaune was just trying to keep them all united. Their very lives depended on it and as the leader he felt responsible for that. So with great reluctance Blake decided to accept what had happened. She had told Jaune she would follow him and that sometimes meant going along with decisions she didn't like after all. It sucked being so rational. It would be so much easier to just throw a tantrum until she got her way from time to time like Weiss did.

Despite her frustration over it all, she had forgiven him and had told him as much. His relief when she did was palpable and it looked like one giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders...only for another to remain in its place. When she pressed him about it he had only claimed that he was nervous about going to Lambent. That certainly made sense. He wasn't qualified to go to Beacon to begin with. To be sent to a school with an even stricter requirement was bound to add some pressure. Heck, even she could feel some of it. They were out in the middle of nowhere for crying out loud! As much sense as it made though she couldn't help but feel that he wasn't giving her the full truth.

Naturally she suspected Weiss next. When she confronted the heiress about it she claimed she had no idea. She recounted the full extent of their conversation in Ozpin's office for her and said Jaune had seemed perfectly fine, relieved even, after everything had been resolved. Although she had no idea what Ozpin had wanted to talk to Jaune alone about. Jaune wouldn't talk about that either. Maybe that was it then? Its not like she had any other leads to go off of. Not that she could confront Ozpin about it either now that they had left Beacon. She just had to hope that whatever it was it wouldn't affect his judgement in the field. At least until he was ready to talk about it.

If they hadn't already spilled their secrets to one another once before Blake might have thought about prying him a little further. If Jaune was hiding something now though...it was probably because he thought he was protecting them. If it ever became too much of a burden for him though she would be here to listen when he needed someone to tell. That was her job as his best friend.

"Alright everyone-" Ironwood's voice came over the intercom. "-we'll be at Lambent in fifteen minutes. Get your gear ready and prepare for drop-off." The intercom switched off and Blake got to her feet. Port had finally quit talking and a relieved Pyrrha and Weiss got away from him as quickly as possible lest he resume. Ren had also made his way over to his pack while Nora followed him. Yang was making her way towards Jaune and Ruby with a sinister smile on her face.

Uh oh. Blake had one of three options. She could quickly wake up Jaune and Ruby. She could intercept Yang and tell her to back off. Or she could just sit back and let whatever happens happen. Seeing as the first two had a chance of ending in conflict her choice was more or less already made for her. It's not like she wasn't a little curious either.

Yang stopped in front of the two of them and pulled her scroll out, first taking a quick photo. Once that was done she put it away and cracked her knuckles as she prepared to give them probably the most rude awakening either of them would ever experience. Blake was starting to have second thoughts. Maybe she should stop her after all?

"Yang, stop whatever it is that you're thinking." Fortunately she didn't have to as Pyrrha stepped in between her partner and the two.

"Come on, Pumpkin Cereal!" Yang and her nicknames again. "Just a little prank? They're too adorable not to!"

"It's probably not a good idea." Blake finally decided to intervene herself. "If you work Jaune up too much he's likely to start barfing again. I'm sure none of us want to arrive at our new home covered in vomit." Yang's smile twisted in horror as she thought about the likelihood of what Blake just said. If memory served correct, it wouldn't be the first time Jaune had done something like that to her.

"Fine!" Yang took a couple steps back before spinning around and making her way to her pack. "Couple of sticks in the mud." Blake's enhanced hearing heard her grumble.

"I'm sorry about her." Pyrrha looked remorseful even though she hadn't done anything wrong. Blake kind of understood the sentiment of taking responsibility for your partner though.

"Don't worry about it." She turned to Jaune and Ruby. "We do need to wake them up."

"Ah, yes." Pyrrha nodded and turned to them too before hesitating. Blake looked at her curiously. It looked like she wanted to say something but was either too embarrassed or not sure how to word it. They didn't exactly have a lot of time for things like this. They were nearing their destination after all.

"What is it?" Blake prodded her gently. Pyrrha looked up at her in surprise which caused Blake to smirk. "Jaune makes the same expression when he's trying to think of what to say."

Pyrrha's expression shifted to one of trepidation which only made Blake more curious. "What's it like being partnered with him?"

"With Jaune?" Of all the things she had been expecting Pyrrha to ask that had not even come close to the top.

Pyrrha nodded. "I'm going to be a little forward with you. I wanted to partner with him before the initiation began. My plan was to find him the moment we had been given our instructions on how to form our partners. I had saw where he had fallen and ran that way."

"O-oh?" Forward indeed. Blake wasn't used to dealing with such a blunt confession.

"I must sound weird, right? I had only just met him in the locker rooms just before but he had left a rather powerful impression." She was right about sounding weird. Blake's initial impression of Jaune was anything but positive. He had run out to protect her from the King Taijitu and had nearly gotten himself killed. Blake had thought about just abandoning him before making eye-contact it had been so pathetic. The expression of dejection on his face before she did just that had caused her to stay.

It was only with great reluctance she came back after him. Had she not done that, would this girl be his partner instead? It was kind of pointless to think things like that now. Point was, she was his partner. "Being his partner is exhausting. I'm constantly forced to look out for him. He does have his moments of reliability though and I'm indebted to him in more ways than I can count. It's an interesting experience to say the least, being partnered with Jaune Arc."

Pyrrha contemplated what she said for a moment before nodding. "Thank you. I was just a little curious is all. I'm not disappointed with my partner or anything. She's incredibly talented and for all her pranks she has a good heart."

"..." Blake simply nodded. She wasn't sure what else to say after that. This whole conversation was rather awkward. Pyrrha seemed to be thinking the same thing and patted her lightly on the shoulder before leaning in to wake the other two up.

"Jaune. Ruby. We're almost there. We need to get ready." Ruby began to stir first and attempted to lift her head. It nudged Jaune's up in the process and he was startled awake too.

"Wha- huh?" He groaned as he took in his surroundings. His eyes focused in on Pyrrha who was still leaned directly in front of him. Rather, his eyes focused in on the view Pyrrha was giving him of her cleavage. His face got incredibly red very quickly and Blake decided to clear her throat. His eyes shot off Pyrrha and looked up to her in horror. His mouth opened and closed several times as he tried and failed to form an excuse.

"Are you feeling okay? You're not still sick are you?" Pyrrha was for better or worse oblivious to the generous view she was already given him and leaned in closer to place a hand on his forehead.

"That's enough right there." Blake grabbed Pyrrha's elbow and pulled her back a little harder than she intended.

"W-what?" Pyrrha asked in shock as she stumbled backwards and away from the both of them. Blake couldn't help but glare at her revealing armor.

"Are they fighting about something?" Blake's bow twitched as she heard Ruby whisper fearfully into Jaune's ear. Apparently they were both awake now.

She let out a long sigh as she calmed herself down. She needed to run damage control quick lest someone get suspicious. "Sorry. I thought he looked ready to throw up. I was just trying to get you out of the way." That was a lie but it sounded convincing enough to her.

"Oh. Well thank you." Pyrrha relaxed herself and smiled gratefully back at her. It made Blake feel a little guilty but it was better than admitting she had another flash of jealousy. Seriously, she needed to make other friends.

"So what's going on?" Ruby asked, probably curious as to why she was woken up. She had looked pretty comfortable while asleep so it made sense.

"Get your stuff. We're almost there." Ruby was on her feet almost immediately at Blake's words and happily skipped to her stuff. She was treating this whole thing like one big field trip. Jaune got up a little more sluggishly and his face paled as he appeared to realize where he was. She wasn't sure if it was the airship making him sick or because they were nearly there. Probably both.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and hooked Crocea Mors to his belt. Most of their personal belongings had been sent ahead and should already be waiting for them when they arrived. It was just basic survival gear that they carried on them just in case their ship was attacked on they way and they ended up stranded in the badlands. Fortunately they hadn't run into any large avian Grimm. She had no doubt they were out here either.

"Hey." Blake spoke as she walked up next to Jaune and placed a comforting hand on his back. "You going to be okay?"

"I think so." Jaune rubbed his stomach tenderly as he spoke. "I don't think I have anything left to puke at least."

"I wasn't just talking about that." He looked up at her in confusion and she gave him a reassuring smile. "Whenever you're ready to talk about it I'm willing to listen. Just...promise me you're not thinking of quitting again."

"I really can't hide much from you, can I?" He gave her a mirthful smile.

"You do show your expressions pretty readily on your face."

He sighed but kept smiling anyways. "Trust me, I couldn't drop out even if I wanted to. I can't tell you what it is right now and it might turn out to be nothing anyways. I'll tell you as soon as I can." Blake nodded and stood straight up. It wasn't much but at least she knew he was willing to talk a little about it. "And Blake." She looked back to him as he stood up too. "Thanks buddy."

Before she could respond the intercom crackled back on. "We're here. I'm opening the back hatch so prepare to jump. Good luck and remember, I'm expecting great things."

"Jump? I thought he would at least touch this thing down." Jaune grumbled just as the hatch began to open and wind billowed in. It was no secret that Jaune hated heights and his weapon didn't exactly give him a way to slow his descent.

"Come on. I'll help you." Blake grabbed his shoulder as they walked forward. The others were right behind them as they walked to the edge. Blake couldn't see Lambent so it must have been behind them. What she could see were dozens of Grimm as they roamed the jagged land ahead of them. This was going to be their next two years, constantly surrounded by these things. She took a deep breath and then jumped, pulling Jaune along with her.

* * *

><p>Jaune sighed in relief as the drop down was only half a dozen meters. It was more than short enough for his aura to comfortably absorb the blow for him without any of the annoying numbness that came after. "That wasn't so bad." He grinned to his partner and she patted him lightly on the shoulder in agreement.<p>

One at a time the others all landed next to them ending with Professor Port. Once they were on the ground, the airship began rising higher into the sky as it prepared to leave. Jaune turned to watch it go and the realization that this was really happening settled in. No turning back now. Although he had lost the chance to turn back long before this. With a reluctant sigh he turned to look at what would be his new home for the next two years.

Half a kilometer ahead of them was the giant metal tower called Lambent. It looked incredibly out of place here. It's silver surface gleamed brightly as it reflected the sunlight and gave it a glowing effect that was accentuated by all the dead earth around it. Now that Jaune paid attention, they were standing on a small hill that formed probably a kilometer large ring around Lambent, placing it in a type of giant crater. He wondered if this formation was natural or artificial. It looked like it could go either way.

"That...is a lot of Grimm." Yang whistled and Jaune finally noticed the most important thing between them and the academy. There were easily a hundred Boarbatusk barring their path at the moment. Fortunately, none of them had really taken notice of them yet. Most of them were glaring at Lambent while a couple others were butting heads with one another.

"Why haven't they cleared them out? Surely they knew we were coming." Weiss stamped her feet as she glared at Port for answers.

"Why, I imagine this a special welcome to the school! It only seems fitting to fight Grimm on your way into an academy that is going to teach you how to effectively do that. Why I remember what I had to do in my day-" Jaune immediately tuned the boisterous professor out and narrowed his eyes as he looked for the path of least resistance. If they were going to have to fight, so be it. The quicker they did the better. There were thousands of other Grimm behind them too.

"What's the plan, boss?" Ruby mock-saluted and grinned at him. The motion made him smile a little. He could get used to being called that.

"Those things look pretty tough. Do they have any kind of weakness?" He turned to Weiss.

Weiss looked surprised that he was talking to her for a second before recovering and going into her typical heiress-mode (as he liked to call it). "Boarbatusk are incredibly sturdy Grimm but they have almost no armor on their stomach. If we're going to have any hope of killing them we should aim for that."

"Sounds simple enough." Jaune rubbed his chin as he thought of their best plan. "We should break off into pairs. Weiss and I will go together and Blake and Ruby will make the other."

"Wouldn't it be better if we stayed with our partners?" Blake voiced in concern.

"You nor I exactly have a way to knock these things onto their backs." Jaune clarified his reasoning. "Ruby's scythe is capable of getting under them and Weiss has her glyphs. They'll expose their weak point while it'll be up to you and me to finish them. That's probably the best way to fight while moving." Blake frowned for a second as she considered his words before nodding. At least he could count on her to be rational. "Does that sound good to you?" He once again addressed Weiss.

"It'll do." Weiss pulled out her weapon and took a spot next to him. "Just please don't pull a stunt like you did with that Nevermore. I do not want to have to bail us out of danger again."

He smirked at her. "You got it Snow-" A pointed glare from her made him stop mid-sentence. She really, really hated that nickname. He cleared his throat. "Right. Be sure to pick the path of least resistance. The point of this is to get there as quickly as possible."

"Aww…" Ruby groaned. Knowing her she had wanted to kill as many as possible.

"Not a bad idea, Captain Atlas. We're going to borrow it." Yang called as PYRN appeared to be readying themselves for action as well.

"What about you, Professor?" Pyrrha asked and they all turned to look at the Grimm studies teacher behind them.

"I'll follow just behind you children. No need to worry." He planted his axe-blunderbuss-combo-weapon at his feet as he spoke. "Now show me what you've got!"

"Right!" They all nodded and sprinted towards the Grimm and towards Lambent.

As they neared their enemies, Weiss fell into line right next to Jaune. "Thank you." She spoke just loud enough for him to hear.

He glanced at her in confusion and saw that she refused to make eye-contact with him. "For what?"

Weiss scowled before sighing. "For actually treating me as your second-in-command. I honestly didn't think I'd have to spell that out for you." Her gratitude for something like that confused him even more. He was going to have to worry about it later though. They were on their first Grimm.

The boarbatusk squealed in anger as they ran up to it. The others were alerted and dozens of angry red eyes turned to glare at them. For the first time in over a week Jaune felt the fear of death grip him again. Once more he was staring the horrible creatures hellbent on his species very destruction dead in the face with the intention of combating them. The first time this had happened he had frozen up and barely managed to move at all. This time was different though. Now he had both experience and some training.

Instead of the fear causing his legs to freeze and lock up he felt them burn with adrenaline and his speed hastened. Instead of his eyes going blurry his vision became sharper and every detail became clear. He could do this! He had to do this! Blake hadn't spent all week training him for nothing.

"Jaune! Get ready!" Weiss pulled her rapier back and lunged forward even faster than they were already going. The boarbatusk didn't even have a chance to react as she struck it hard in the side and one of her white glyphs formed on impact. It launched the Grimm sideways and into the air exposing its stomach for him to see.

This was it! It was time to put everything Blake had been drilling into him to the test. With a loud cry of exertion he kicked off the ground and leapt forward. Time appeared to slow as he and the boarbatusk hung suspended in the air. His arm swung around as the Grimm could only flail helplessly as he closed in on it. The sound of metal eating into flesh reached his ears and blood squirted from the wound he gouged. He raised his shield to protect his eyes and mouth from the splatter. The boarbatsuk cried in pain as his sword completed its work and suddenly time returned to normal.

He hit the ground running without losing a hitch in his step and heard the Grimm collapse dead behind him. He didn't bother turning around to look at it. Instead he focused directly ahead.

"Not bad." Weiss nodded as they sprinted past another four boarbatusk that hadn't seemed to fully grasp what had just happened.

"Thanks." He grinned to himself. He had done it! Now just to keep it up until they made it to the tower. Another boarbatusk in front of them charged directly at them and Weiss skipped ahead to meet it head on. Once again her glyph sent it airborne and once again he successfully cut its stomach open.

He spared a glance at the other teams to see them all slightly ahead of them. Ruby swung her scythe in beautiful arcs that managed every time to grip the boarbatusk by the tusks. At one time she had somehow managed to launch three of them well over her head. Blake vanished from the ground and appeared next to each one like a shadow and cut them down.

Yang met the deadly creatures head on with her fists, sending them flying backwards as her gauntlets discharged a dust shell directly into their face. Pyrrha merely took aim and shot the Grimm right in the heart without even breaking stride.

Nora slammed her hammer into the ground and knocked six into the air simultaneously just from the blowback. Her partner, Ren, didn't even appear fazed as he jumped after them and sliced them apart in one fluid motion.

"Jaune!" Weiss called for his attention and he turned to see she had knocked two into the air this time.

"On it!" He sprinted forward and sliced open the one before pivoting and stabbing the other. He spun in a complete circle and fell back into line with her. Not once had they stopped running forward in all this and more than a dozen of the Grimm were behind them now. This was almost too easy! Compared to all the times he had nearly been eaten, mauled, buried, skewered, splattered, suffocated, blown up, sliced into bits, and incinerated during his Beacon initiation this was nothing. Maybe a little training was all he ever really needed?

He was so caught up in these thoughts that the sound of dirt being kicked up from behind reached his ears almost too late. He spun around just in time to see several of the boarbatusk had curled into balls and were rolling at them with incredible velocity. The closest one was on a direct collision course with Weiss.

"Weiss! Look out!" He turned hard and jumped directly in between the two. He brought his shield up just in time for the Grimm to smash into it. The force of the spinning Grimm pushed him back despite his best efforts to lock his feet into the ground. Instead he only left two foot-sized trails as it continually pushed him back farther and farther. He grit his teeth and pushed back but to no avail. His arm was starting to seize in pain just from trying to hold his shield up as the boarbatsuk's roll threatened to disarm him at any second.

"Hold on!" Weiss called as if he wasn't already doing just that. She ran around and thrust the spinning Grimm from the side. Her attack knocked it over and onto its back where it struggled to get up. She stepped forward and stabbed it in the heart. She then turned to the others to give warning. "Look out behind you! They're charging!" The other six reacted to her words in time to dodge their own rolling adversaries. Weiss was still looking at the others though and failed to see another two rolling right at them.

Without thinking Jaune leapt forward and shoved her out of the way. The next Grimm was on him and he held his shield up and at an angle. It clipped it and skirted past him without doing more than throwing him off balance. Without being able to maintain his footing though he wasn't able to take a proper stance to protect himself from the next boarbatusk. He did the only thing he could think of and jumped.

Unfortunately it wasn't nearly high enough and the Grimm clipped him in the ankle. The world became a blur as he was sent spiralling out of control through the air. He lost his grip on both his shield and sword and heard them clatter to the ground some distance away before his vision flashed white.

"Jaune!" He heard several voices overlap and let out a small groan. He must have landed on his left shoulder because his whole arm was completely numb from the pain that he was feeling everywhere else. His vision focused back in after only a second and he attempted to stagger to his feet. Putting even the littlest pressure on his right foot caused him to gasp in pain and he suspected it was twisted, if not broken. Add that to the fact that his left arm only dangled uselessly at his side and it made getting to his feet a near impossible task.

He struggled to do so anyways before stumbling back down and his face met the hard dirt beneath him. Great, this just looked pathetic. Without a doubt Blake and Ruby were running to bail him out at this very moment. Weiss was likely holding off the other boarbatusk and keeping them from running him over. The people inside the tower were probably monitoring everything that was happening and would undoubtedly see how much of a failure he was. They would probably have their suspicions about someone like him making it into their program. If they looked into him too much it would be impossible for him to spy for Ozpin. If he failed him, he was for sure exposed. Damn it! Just when he had been starting to feel a little bit confident in himself too.

Wait a minute...what if his aura could heal him? Blake had said that it was only supposed to be good for healing small nicks and bruises but she also said his aura was unusually large and seemed much more adept at healing than normal. She even suspected his semblance might have something to do with healing. Not that they really had a chance to test that theory out. Still, his aura had helped him survive a point blank explosion once before, why not a twisted ankle and numb arm?

He looked deep inside of himself just as Blake had taught him and found what she called "the light of his soul." He pleaded with it to aide him. He willed it to fix his arm and leg. To allow him to continue fighting alongside his teammates. He was still new to this aura thing and didn't know how else to manipulate it other than ask.

To his incredulous relief, he felt a soothing feeling wash over his wounds and his body began glowing yellow as his aura became visible to do its work. In nothing more than a couple seconds he felt good as new and climbed to his feet without issue. He stared at his hands for a minute as his aura vanished. Once it was gone he turned back to the chaos that was going on around him.

"Jaune!" Blake was nearly to him. Weiss and Ruby were holding back the Grimm for them.

"I'm fine." He smiled at her as she slowed to a stop. Blake opened her mouth to berate him but stopped as she looked him over. He lightly dusted himself off and twisted his feet in demonstration. "See? No worries."

"Your aura?" She asked curiously as she lightly prodded the arm he had fallen on. He opened his mouth to respond but Weiss cut him off.

"We can't hold these things off forever! If you're fine we need to get moving!" He turned to see a small pile of Grimm corpses in front of Ruby and Weiss but they were being pushed back by their relentless onslaught.

"She's right." Jaune patted Blake on the shoulder before running to retrieve his shield and sword. Once he had them he turned back to the others. "Come on! Let's go!"

Ruby and Weiss killed one more Grimm before turning to sprint. Blake followed immediately after and only once they all passed him did Jaune follow. At least another dozen of the Grimm were in front of them but before they got anywhere near them they were blasted by a series of dust bullets. Jaune flicked his attention a little farther ahead to see PYRN had passed all the Grimm and stood about twenty-five meters from the tower and were now giving them coverfire.

"Hurry!" Pyrrha waved them to continue forward and they did just that. They sprinted directly past all the Grimm now and allowed PYRN to take care of them from a distance. It only took them half a minute to reach them.

"You took quite the fall out there!" Yang grinned broadly at Jaune as he stopped next to her.

"It just looked bad." He gestured behind them. "Is there a reason we stopped here? The Grimm are still coming."

"Just watch." Yang stared at the Grimm without a worry in the world despite the fact that they were getting dangerously close. Once the Grimm got about five meters away Jaune heard something fire off from above and behind him. Beams of red streaked over his head and struck the charging Grimm. They burst into flames and ceased any movement the moment the beams made contact.

"The hell was that?" Jaune spun around to see small cannons that were still smoking from having been fired.

"It's a dust powered anti-Grimm laser defense system. They're still testing those!" Weiss exclaimed, apparently just as shocked to see them as he was.

"I'm guessing the Schnee Dust Company is the one developing that?" Blake slipped Gambol Shroud away and relaxed her stance now that they were safe.

Weiss nodded. "Last I heard they were still developing a way for them to safely target Grimm without reacting to any other signs of life. If I had to guess I'd say these ones are programmed to react to any Grimm that gets within thirty meters. I can only imagine the amount of dust it takes to effectively utilize those."

"Effective is the right word. Those Grimm got turned to pork barbeque." Yang licked her lips as she stared at the charred creatures ahead of them.

"Hey, hey Ren! Can you eat Grimm?" Nora seemed a little too ecstatic at the idea for Jaune's taste.

"No Nora. I don't think you can."

"Perhaps we should head inside?" Pyrrha indicated back towards Lambent. "We can continue this discussion there."

"What about Professor Port?" Ruby reminded them all that they had been forgetting about something.

"I don't think we need to worry about him." Blake pointed back towards the field just as an explosion from Professor Port's blunderbuss sent at least a dozen of the boarbatusk into the sky. Port leaped through the air at them and every swing of his axe tore one of them in half. He made short work of more Grimm in a matter of seconds than all eight of them had managed to do combined their whole sprint over.

"I guess his stories weren't just him blowing hot air after all." Yang whistled as she watched him work. Jaune had to agree. He was going to start paying more attention whenever this man started one of his ramblings...at least for the first five minutes. He couldn't promise much longer than that.

In no time at all Port landed in front of them and hefted his weapon over his shoulders. "Excellent work children! Most excellent indeed! Now let us proceed!" He walked past them and they all followed immediately after with a little more respect for him than they previously had.

As they approached the base of Lambent, Jaune had to stretch his neck to look straight up and even then couldn't see the top of the tower giving it a much more powerful impression from this close up. It was almost intimidating to think he would be living here for at least the next two years of his life. Well, provided he didn't die anyways.

They stopped in front of a pair of sliding doors which remained unmoving for several moments before finally parting with a loud hiss to let them in. As they all stepped into the brightly lit hallway of their new home they came face to face with a man Jaune had never seen before, yet he looked oddly familiar. He heard Weiss let out a small gasp from next to him and he immediately made the connection.

"Glad to see you all made it." The man was dressed almost entirely in white; From his pants to his leather jacket and even his boots. The katana that hung off his waist was also sheathed in white. His slicked-back white hair stood in stark contrast to his more tan skin complexion. "My name is Shirou. Shirou Schnee. I am the headmaster here." Several eyes darted to Weiss at once.

She cleared her throat and made her way to the front of the group. "It's good to see you again...uncle." She gave a small curtsy while she addressed him. "I had no idea it was you who would be running Lambent. The documents on that were rather...vague."

The man chuckled as he stepped forward and directly in front of Weiss. He towered at least two full heads over her. "Yes, well you can thank your father for that. He didn't want to be seen as involved with this academy for several personal reasons. For his sake we hid the fact that his younger half-brother was the one running it."

"I understand. A little heads-up to me would have at least been appreciated however." Weiss huffed and glared at the taller man in front of her.

"And miss the surprise on the face of my favorite niece?" He reached his hand forward and patted her hair. If it was possible her glare got even sharper. "Ah, I'd forgotten that you lack a sense of humor. Definitely your father's girl."

He walked past her and smiled at the rest of them before stepping up to Pyrrha and extending a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Nikos. Your transcripts looked very promising."

"T-Thank you, Professor Schnee." Pyrrha mumbled awkwardly as she took his hand and shook it.

"Please, just call me Shirou." He waved his hand and gave a disarming grin and stepped up to Yang. "Good to meet you Miss Xiao Long."

"You...don't act much like a Schnee." Yang shook his hand even as she tried to lean away from him.

"Bah, all those formalities are far too troubling." He stepped up to Nora and shook her hand next to which she only enthusiastically returned. "Miss Valkyrie." He greeted quickly. "Besides, I'm only half Schnee. That means I only need to act like one half of the time." He finished saying that while shaking Ren's hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

Then he turned to the remaining members of AWBR and Jaune tensed up in fear. This man was anything but what he expected him to be. The way Ozpin described the situation it sounded like some kind of megalomaniac was running this place. Maybe it wasn't really so bad after all? Then again if experience had taught Jaune anything it was the more harmless and inviting something appeared the more dangerous it usually was. He wasn't about to drop his guard around this guy.

"Miss Rose. You're quite the prodigy. It must be hard on you being partnered up with my niece." He was already up to them and shaking Ruby's hand.

"Hey! I'm right here!"

"Nah, she's not too bad." Ruby tilted her head and grinned brightly at her partner who only folded her arms and humphed. Shirou laughed at the interaction and moved onto Blake.

"The mysterious Miss Belladonna. That is a cute bow you have on." Blake didn't say anything as she shook his hand and only stared with eyes that appeared to be assessing the man in front of her. Jaune wondered if she was thinking along the same lines he was.

Finally, he stopped in front of Jaune but paused as he glanced him up and down. The action made Jaune nervous and he couldn't help but wonder why of all of them he was the one being inspected. "You took quite the hit out there from that boarbatusk, Mr. Arc. Very few people ever get back up after being struck down by one of them. You either have an impressive aura or incredible luck." So he was just checking him over for injuries? He really hoped that's all it was. He didn't need to appear on this guys radar so soon.

"I just have a good team is all." Jaune replied simply and Shirou finally extended his hand.

As Jaune grabbed it he spoke again. "A good team is nothing without its leader. Be sure to remember that." Despite the seriousness of his words he said them almost as if he was just joking around. Jaune tried looking into his eyes to see which it was but wasn't able to get anything from them due to the fact that he kept them closed throughout the entire exchange.

"I'll be sure to do that." Jaune replied awkwardly as he pulled his hand away.

"That's good to hear. Now that introductions are out of the way, allow me to be the first to give you all these words." He straightened his posture and took a couple steps back. With a big flourish of his arms he bowed deeply before them.

"Welcome to Lambent."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Couple quick things. Shirou is Japanese for White (as I understand it) so that's where his name comes from. He has no other similarities what-so-ever to Emiya from FSN, although I do love that VN and draw on it for inspiration. Initial impressions of him? I was hesitant when creating this story to use an OC but it ended up being inevitable seeing as I needed someone to run Lambent and I did at least try to connect him to one of the main cast. There'll be more on him next chapter.

Thanks again to Coeur Al'Aran for continuing to BETA for me.

Next time the team settles into their new home and meet some of the other students they'll be attending with.


	9. Meetings

**Auburn**

_Chapter 9 - Meetings_

* * *

><p><em>Beta: Coeur Al'Aran<em>

* * *

><p>"If you would all follow me this way." Shirou Schnee indicated down the hall behind him and Jaune took the opportunity to glance down it quick as they all followed after him.<p>

It was kind of weird. This tower was huge and he had expected to walk into a massive, open room right upon entering. Instead there was only a narrow hallway that led to another pair of sliding doors.

"Something on your mind, Mr. Arc?" Jaune looked back to Shirou to see him giving the same amused grin that seemed glued on his face. It was like everything looked like one big joke to him or something. It kind of freaked him out a little.

"I just expected this place to be more...spacious?" He wasn't really sure if that was the word he wanted or not but at the very least it got his point across.

Shirou nodded his head a couple times. "The next floor will be more what you're expecting. This floor here is more a last means of defense in case Grimm make it past our defense systems and actually break into the tower. They can't exactly do much if we trap them in here."

"Ah." Well that made sense to him at least. They were quite literally surrounded by them at all times. It might be inevitable that a couple of them make it past those lasers and knock the door down. "So this is the only way in and out?"

"Yes and no." Shirou stopped in front of the doors and pulled out a keycard that he held up to a small scanner. A small ding confirmed it and the doors slid open revealing a cylindrical elevator. "This elevator is directly in the middle of the tower. There are four hallways leading directly to it. That's four entrances with which you can choose to enter and exit from." He stepped inside and the others followed. It was quite accommodating and easily fit them all in it while still giving them enough room to not be invading one another's personal space.

He selected the fourth floor and the elevator slowly began taking them up. Jaune made a quick mental note of the number of floors. There were twenty of them and one sub-floor. Great, twenty-one floors he was going to have to scour over. Seriously, would it have killed Ozpin to assign someone else to help him with this crap? He wouldn't be doing this at all if Ozpin hadn't threatened to expose him for the fraud he was. That and one other secret that wasn't even his...

His eyes shifted to Blake. More specifically the bow that sat atop her head. How did Ozpin even know about that? Did it even matter? If Blake was exposed because of him she would never forgive him. That was the one thing he absolutely couldn't have. Kick him out of this school, throw him in jail, murder his dream, but betraying Blake was crossing the line. He owed her everything. She had taken someone worthless like him as her partner and was helping him realize his dream. As long as she stayed by him he could do anything.

"Jaune?" His eyes shifted off her bow and into her eyes which were looking at him curiously, probably wondering why he was staring.

He smiled awkwardly. "Hey."

"Hey?" She replied back questioningly.

"Get a room you two." Yang shook Jaune rather violently and he spun to see her giving him a really suggestive smile.

"Wha-no! It's not like that!" He shook his head fiercely and waved his hands defensively in front of himself. "I was just- what I mean is-"

"Yang! Leave Jaune alone!" Ruby ran up and clung to his arm. "He and Blake are partners. We don't try to say you're flirting with Pyrrha."

Yang responded by grabbing Pyrrha around the shoulders and pulling her over. "Oh? Are you trying to see me and my partner aren't intimate enough? I can show you just how close we are."

"Wh- what?" Pyrrha immediately tried to pull away as her face flushed nearly as red as her hair. "Yang! I'm flattered but I'm afraid I don't-"

"Oh! Don't worry so much about the details Pumpkin Cereal. I'm just proving a point." Yang reached her hand around and placed it on her cheek. Jaune shifted uncomfortably as he watched them get closer and closer to the one another. Before they could get too much farther, the elevator opened and Pyrrha broke free to all but bolt out the door. Yang had to hold her sides as she doubled over in laughter.

"I think you're the most amusing group of students I've met yet. It's a shame it hasn't rubbed off on Weiss yet. She needs to learn to have more fun."

"Hey!" Weiss glared at her uncle's back as he walked out into the open room. Jaune watched as she followed after him. He wasn't particularly close to Weiss, but she had been much less mean towards him since they had worked things out. Rather, now she didn't go out of her way to insult him and instead she just usually ignored his presence. He needed to talk to her about her uncle though. He knew nothing about the man that was running this school and she was his best bet on gaining some kind of insight.

"Feel free to take a seat anywhere you want." Shirou gestured to the numerous circular tables that were spread across the room. "You're of course free to mingle with the other students...not that any of them seem too interested in doing the same." Jaune finally noticed at least the sixty other people about his age that were seated throughout the room. They were separated into three other groups that he would guess were the three separate kingdoms. That made them the last group to arrive.

"Professor Port, if you'll come with me?" Shirou and Port walked off towards a group of other adults that Jaune could only assume were the other staff. Meanwhile, the rest of the group followed after Pyrrha as she claimed a table away from all the other students. Ruby disentangled herself from Jaune's arm and ran after them.

He took a couple steps out after them but paused again as he looked once more around the room, skimming its entire surface. There were no windows, a high ceiling and it was all made of the same metallic material as the outside of the building. The tables and small stage set up looked incredibly out of place in the otherwise empty room. He peeked around the other side of the elevator to see that side of the room completely bare. It was like the set-up was thrown together at the last second.

"Jaune?" He jumped at the unexpected voice and spun to see Blake had stayed behind with him while all the others were already seated. She raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior and his brain whirled as it attempted to form some kind of believable excuse. Who was he kidding? Nothing he said was going to convince Blake. For better or worse she already knew him well enough to recognize all his tics and habits. "Everyone is waiting."

To his surprise she didn't say anything about his behavior and simply nodded her head towards the others. He was both extremely relieved and immediately thankful. "Right." He straightened his stance and began walking towards the others. Blake followed silently after. She had been much more...understanding of his need to keep this secret than he expected her to be. Especially with how obvious he was being about it. He had no doubt she had ideas about what it was but she didn't dare pry. Instead she stood by his side and offered her silent support in whatever it may be.

Their groups were split up into two tables. Yang, Nora, and Ren were at one. Pyrrha wasn't sitting with them, probably still trying to keep herself away from her lecherous partner. Instead she sat at a table with Ruby and Weiss. The latter two sat together while Pyrrha sat one seat removed from Weiss.

"Hey Weiss." Jaune rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he approached her. She turned and looked at him half-questioningly, half with her usual scowl. "Mind if I sit next to you? I wanted to ask you something."

She sighed and gestured to the chair next to her and he grinned happily. He had actually expected her to decline. He immediately pulled the chair out and then nodded to Pyrrha. "You don't mind either, right?"

Pyrrha grinned a little more widely than he expected to as she shook her head. "Not at all."

"Thanks." He dropped his backpack underneath the table and scooted into his seat. He noticed Blake begrudgingly take the seat next to Pyrrha at the same time.

"So what is it you needed to discuss?" Weiss was quick to the point as always. She hadn't even given him a chance to gather his thoughts. He probably should have had them gathered before he even got over here actually so maybe this was his bad.

"I just wanted to know about your uncle." Her eyes narrowed and he shifted backwards in fear. It was kind of apparent that her uncle was a sore subject but he couldn't give up here. He needed to do this. At least he thought he did. Hopefully Weiss could tell him things Ozpin already didn't know about him.

"What in particular do you need to know?" She asked after several seconds of silence.

"Well...everything, I guess. Let's start with that." Her eye twitched.

"You know 'everything' is a really broad term, right?" For some reason it sounded like she was trying really hard to be patient with him. He couldn't imagine why that was.

"Yeah I know. How about we just start from his birth and work our way chronologically from there? He's only...how old is he anyways?" Jaune glanced over at him and if he had to guess he would say was in his mid-twenties. That seemed really young to be running a place like this though.

"Are you just trying to irritate me? Cause if you are it's working." Weiss grabbed his ear and twisted.

"Ouch, no I'm being- ouch! Weiss cut it out!" She finally released his ear and he rubbed it as he eyed her fearfully.

"I'm also a little curious about him." Pyrrha offered as she glanced between the two of them. "What's he like?"

Weiss huffed and crossed her arms. "You've seen what he's like. Everything in the world to him is one big joke. He doesn't take anything seriously at all. All his life things have just been handed to him."

"That's not just your personal-bias talking is it?" Blake accused and Weiss turned on her. "Someone that doesn't take anything seriously surely wouldn't have been made the head of a school in the middle of Grimm territory. His skills must be exceptional beyond compare and that's not something you get without effort."

"You don't get it." Weiss leaned back in her chair and sighed in frustration. "That's exactly what I'm saying. His skill at cutting down Grimm...it's unnatural. My father has even said so. Ever since he could swing that sword of his he's been some sort of prodigy. I don't think he's ever faced a Grimm and thought he might die." Jaune definitely couldn't relate to that. Everytime he faced a Grimm he thought for sure he was dead. Was that why this guy instinctively sent off warning bells in his head? Was it because he sensed how different they were? "It was fortunate he had that talent though. He would never have been recognized as a legitimate heir to the company so becoming a Hunter was really the next best route for him to uphold the family honor. Even more so because his very existence is a stain upon it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaune asked that question so heatedly he surprised even himself. Something about the way she worded that had struck a nerve he'd rather not think about. He knew a little about what it was like to be a stain on the family name after all.

Weiss let out a long, drawn out sigh as she appeared to consider how to answer his question. "My grandfather was a great man. He hardly had a tarnish on his record while he ran the company. His integrity was almost without question...almost." She emphasized. "He had an affair with one of the mansion maids and Shirou was conceived. Grandfather had her sent away in an attempt to hide the fact. Shirou grew up in poverty the first ten years of his life until his mother caught an illness and died. Grandfather was so stricken by grief and believed himself to be the cause of her death that he came clean of the whole thing and brought Shirou into the main household."

"Naturally it caused an uproar but grandfather wouldn't be swayed. He pampered Shirou and catered to his every whim in some misguided attempt to right that wrong. I guess tensions were nearing a breaking point when they discovered his talent with the sword. It was agreed that he would start training to become a Hunter and the rest is history. He's now Atlas' most renowned swordsman. Its no wonder he was selected to run this school."

Silence followed as she finished her story for several seconds. "It sounds like you actually respect him quite a bit." Ruby was the first to respond.

Weiss' cheeks tinted with pink and she shifted her eyes so they wouldn't meet any of theirs. "Of course I do. I may not agree with his personality but he's still my uncle and an excellent Hunter."

"I think it's very nice."

"Thank you!" Weiss beamed brightly at Pyrrha's compliment. "Why couldn't you have been on my team?"

"Sorry none of us are up to your standard." Blake remarked dryly and immediately flustering the young heiress again.

"That right there is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about! You all give me such a hard time!" The girls continued their argument but Jaune wasn't listening to that much anymore. Instead he was staring into the green eyes of a girl that stood less than a meter from him who was smiling brightly back at him.

He didn't recognize her but she must have been about his age which made her a student from one of the other schools. Why she was over here though he had no idea. He was kind of hoping she would say something but she seemed perfectly content to just stand there and stare back at him. As weird as it was though he had to admit, she was kind of cute. He particularly liked the pink bow on the back of her head. It kind of reminded him of Blake's a little. Only it wasn't likely concealing anything beneath it.

"...Do you know her?" Pyrrha poked him lightly and he realized all the others had taken notice of the two of them staring at one another.

He quickly shook his head. "I've never seen her before." Despite the fact that he was now talking about her directly in front of her she didn't say anything. It was passing beyond just weird now. So he turned back to her. "Can...I help you?"

The girl tilted her head as she processed his question. "I don't believe so." She said after several seconds. "Do I look like I need help with something?"

"Mental help." Weiss grumbled under her breath.

"What are you doing over here?" Blake asked more directly.

The girl positively beamed at this question. "I came to introduce myself and meet the other students!"

That was all well and great but why hadn't she introduced herself yet then? Maybe she was feeling really awkward and didn't know how to properly do an introduction? Jaune immediately felt sympathy for the girl in front of him as he knew what it was like to be socially awkward. He cleared his throat and got to his feet. The least he could do was show her how it was done. "The name is Arc. Jaune Arc. All the ladies just call me handsome."

He heard several hands smack their owners in the face simultaneously but ignored it. The girl in front of him didn't appear phased at all and instead kept right on grinning back at him until giving a military salute. "Salutations! My name is Penny! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Handsome!"

If Yang could have taken a picture of all their faces at that moment, Jaune had no doubt she would have had a field day for weeks. Weiss broke into a fit of coughs so violent that he thought she might have been choking on her own lung. Ruby had jumped from her seat so quickly she knocked it over and looked absolutely lost at what to do now that she was standing. Pyrrha's mouth hung so far open it looked like her jaw had broke. Blake's face had reacted the least but even he was able to tell she was staring very heatedly at their newest acquaintance. His own face burnt in unrestrained embarrassment at having so casually been called that by this quirky girl.

"You are all behaving rather strangely." Penny remarked and Jaune had to wonder if she was being serious or this was all some elaborate prank.

"You're the one being strange!" Weiss all but shrieked as she finally managed to stifle her coughs.

Penny looked like she was replayed the full conversation in her head before she responded. "I introduced myself normally."

"It wasn't the introduction!" Weiss' continued to shriek before quietly muttering under her breath. "Although your introduction wasn't what I'd call normal either."

"You don't have to call him that, you know?" Blake was attempting to maintain a neutral expression but was failing very hard.

"He said all the ladies call him Handsome. Do you not believe I am a lady?" Rather than sounding offended she sounded more like she was afraid that they were onto her secret.

"What? No. How did you even come to that conclusion?" Blake dropped her facade as the frustration took over. It was actually pretty amusing. This was the first time Jaune had seen someone get to Blake like this; Someone not him or Weiss anyways. "You know what? Don't answer that." Blake stopped Penny before she could do just that.

If Penny had come to thrown them off their game she had certainly done a good job. Then again, was it possible she had come over here just to see him? She was staring right at him just a few moments ago. This whole thing kind of made it seem like she was flirting with him too. Was...was this finally his chance to get a date? Wait a second...how were you supposed to date someone out here? They were in the middle of nowhere. Slaying Grimm was hardly the most romantic thing two people could do with one another. Regardless, if this was his chance he wasn't about to lose out on it.

"So...Penny." Jaune gave the most suave grin he could muster and took a big step closer to her.

"Yes Handsome?"

"Stop calling him that!" Weiss and Blake yelled at the same time. He had never heard them so in sync before.

"What brings a cute lady like yourself all the way out here to Lambent?" He placed a hand on her shoulder but Penny showed no outward reaction to him invading her personal space. Maybe she really had taken a liking to him?

"Uncle Ironwood insisted that I have my training here in order to put my combat prowess to the test!" Penny flexed both arms as she answered but Jaune wasn't paying any attention to that. In fact, he had lost her after the first two words.

"Did-did you say...Uncle Ironwood?" He pulled his hand off of her and took a couple fearful steps backwards. "As in the big, scary, General of the Atlas military?"

Penny nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. That would be him." Okay...time to abort mission. No way in hell was he getting involved with a girl whose uncle could destroy him in more ways than he could imagine without any repercussions. Penny tilted her head questioningly at him. "Is something wrong, Handsome?"

"Nope! Nothing's wrong!" Jaune shook his head so violently he made himself dizzy. "You know what? How about you just call me Jaune? That's what all my friends call me." Penny's eyes widened and she stared at him in complete silence for what must have been thirty whole seconds. In that time, Jaune was beginning to fear he had really set her off now. Was she going to tell her uncle? He really hoped not. Sudden movement from Penny caused him to focus back in and he saw her approaching him quickly. She walked right up to him and he took another couple steps back in retreat.

He bumped into the table and Penny stopped less than a couple centimeters from him. He leaned back as far as he could but Penny leaned forward and stared into his eyes with an expression that meant nothing but business. "Are you saying-" He flinched at her voice. "-that you and I are friends?"

"Uhh…" Jaune had no idea how to answer that. He looked to the others for help but not one of them would even look in his direction. The traitors! He was on his own for this one. With great reluctance he turned back to Penny. "...yes?" He really wished that hadn't sounded like a question.

Her serious expression broke into a huge smile and she skipped backwards, finally giving him some breathing room. "Sensational!" She whooped as she hopped around and threw her hands into the air. "I'll compile a list of activities we can do together while here at Lambent! We shall spend everyday together for here on out." What the hell had he gotten himself into? He definitely couldn't say no but how the heck was he supposed to possibly find the time to search around this place if he had to make time for this new girl now too? It seemed like his schedule was getting more and more progressively packed at every turn.

Blake let out along sigh and rose from her seat. She walked to Penny who quit jumping around when Blake extended an open palm towards her. "It's nice to meet you Penny. My name is Blake Belladonna. I'm also Jaune's friend. I hope you'll let me partake in your…" She paused as she thought of the right words. "...friendship activities from now on as well." He could hug Blake right now. He knew she wouldn't leave him out to deal with this new weird girl on his own.

Penny grinned from ear to ear as she shook Blake's hand enthusiastically. "Of course! I believe the saying is the more the merrier! This is stupendous! I have now made two friends!"

"Wait just a second! If we're partaking in friendship activities with cute girls then count us in!" A new voice called and Jaune turned to see two guys approaching. They were both fairly distinct looking individuals too; One of them had blue hair and the other was clearly a monkey Faunus going by the swishing tail behind him.

"My name is Sun." The monkey Faunus introduced himself. "This cool dude next to me is Neptune."

"Sup?" Neptune gave a small salute with two fingers and winked at them.

"Why do more and more people keep coming over here?" Weiss may have been grumbling but he was pretty sure she was checking Neptune out.

"You guys are causing quite the commotion. The whole room can hear you guys you know?" Sun hiked his thumb towards the other teams and Jaune realized that they were indeed all staring off this way. Great, he was already in the center of attention. Normally he would have been thrilled but he was about as far removed from normally as he could get.

"You two wish to join us?" Penny was naturally drumming to her own beat and ignored the fact that everyone was looking at them.

"Totally." Neptune responded for them. "This makes it three guys and only two girls now though. What do you say Snow Angel? Care to be apart of this?" This guy had just dug his own grave. Weiss didn't forgive anyone that called her Snow Angel. Jaune wished him luck and waited for swift retribution to fall upon the poor, unsuspecting soul.

Instead he heard a girly giggle and to his complete and utter astonishment he turned to see it had come from Weiss. She was blushing and refused to meet Neptune's eyes. "I suppose I could fit it into my schedule." She played with her ponytail as she responded. What the hell was going on here? This Weiss was actually super-cute! If she acted like this more often and not like an Ice Queen he may have already fallen hopelessly in love with her. Not that she would've ever had him in the first place.

"No fair! Don't leave me out!" Ruby flailed her arms and stomped the ground in protest.

"You can join too. Don't worry. Penny has already said the more the merrier." He wasn't going to admit it but the more people the better it was for him as it was less likely Penny would single him out again. Just to be safe though… "Pyrrha. You are your team should join too."

The redhead looked surprised at his invitation for only a second before appearing absolutely elated. "That sounds grand! I'll be sure we're there."

"This is so exciting!" Penny looked like she might explode from joy. "I shall work my hardest to come up with a different activity for all of us every single day!"

"That sounds like a lot of work. Since there is so many of us how about we change it to once a week?" Blake offered helpfully. "It'll be much less work for you and now that you have so many friends you can still hang out with us individually in between classes." When the heck had she gotten so good at dealing with socially awkward people? Oh wait, probably from hanging out with him.

"That is a most wonderful idea! I shall compose a schedule so no one feels they are being given unequal time with me! I will get back with you all when it is complete!"

"You do that." Blake said as she took a couple steps away from all of them. "It's getting crowded over here. There's an empty table this way Jaune." She didn't wait for him to respond before walking off towards it.

"Right. Gotta go." He grabbed his bag and took a couple awkward steps backwards. "Nice meeting you Penny."

"It has been a pleasure friend!" Penny waved goodbye with her hand stretched out as far as she could above her head.

"Yes it has." He nodded apologetically to Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha before taking off after Blake.

"Thanks for the save." He sighed in relief as he plopped down in the seat next to her. The only response she gave him was a rough kick in the shin. "Ouch! What the hell?" He turned to see her glaring daggers at him.

"What are you thinking trying to pick up girls in the middle of Grimm territory?" Blake asked under her breath. "How exactly do you plan to take her on dates way out here away from civilization?"

Why the hell was Blake so mad about this whole thing? Was she afraid that he wasn't going to be taking his training with her seriously if he started dating someone? That kind of made sense to him. She was invested in keeping him alive after all they'd been through after all. "I admit that it wasn't my finest moment, but there is nothing wrong with trying to find true love when we're surrounded on all sides by despair. It kind of sounds like one of the plots to your sappy romance-books actually."

"First: Don't ever call my books 'sappy' again. They are works of literary genius that tactfully explore the depth of the human heart and soul while weaving intricate tales of love, loss, and betrayal. Second: Flirting with a girl you only met two seconds ago is hardly what I'd call true love."

"So you're a reader? That's pretty cool." For the second time in the past few minutes Sun interjected himself into one of Jaune's conversations. Not that he could say he minded. Both times they had been deteriorating for him rather quickly and he was thankful for the distraction. He glanced quickly back at the other table to see Neptune had stayed behind and was now conversing with Weiss and Pyrrha.

Sun pulled out the chair next to Blake and kicked his legs up onto the table. To Jaune's relief she turned her glare off of him to shift it to their newest tablemate. "Can I help you?" She must have been really irritated to talk to a near-complete stranger like that.

"Sure. You can tell me more about yourself." Sun's tail swished playfully as he gave her a broad grin. This guy was brave to keep his cool under her fierce stare. Jaune kind of wished he had the guts this guy did. When Blake glared at him like that he usually tried to run. Not that he ever got far.

"..." Perhaps it was because of his response but Blake didn't say anything to him at all. Instead she turned away from him and silently pulled a book out of her bag and flipped it open. She did have one more thing to say to Jaune before she started reading though. "We'll finish this conversation later." Great...

"That was a thrilling conversation right there." Sun tried to get a rise out of her but she didn't even look like she heard him. "Is she always like this?" He turned his question to Jaune.

"With most people, yes." Jaune had the distinct pleasure of being the only person he knew of that Blake was completely open with. Normally that was a good thing but like just now it also meant that when she was mad she let him know.

"What about you? Do you read much?" Jaune was surprised when Sun continued to talk to him. Was this finally his chance to make friends with someone not of the opposite gender? Not likely. Sun was probably trying to use him to get close to Blake. Kids back home used to do that to him all the time when trying to approach his sisters. It never worked out well for them.

"I'm more of a comic-book guy myself. I kind of doubt they have a good selection of those here though." Jaune was going to talk to him amicably anyways. It wouldn't hurt to get to know him and maybe Blake would actually warm up to him. She really needed to make some new friends but seemed perfectly content at keeping her friend-count down to solely him. Hopefully she understood he was partially doing this for her sake too.

Sun chuckled. "Yeah, probably not."

Jaune noticed his tail again and before he could help it he felt he had to ask about it. "What's it like having a tail?"

Sun gave a huge smile as his tail snaked around the chair and in front of Blake. "Want to touch it?"

"Can I?" Jaune asked excitedly as he began to reach for it. He had always wondered what a Faunus appendage felt like. He had gotten even more curious after finding out Blake was a Faunus but he didn't dare ask her. The subject was sensitive enough for her as it was and he didn't want to risk angering her. His hand got only a couple centimeters from the tail when Blake's grabbed him by the wrist.

Both boys looked to see her glaring at the spot where his hand and Sun's tail almost met. She snapped her book shut and turned to Jaune. Why was she glaring at him? Sun had offered. "Touching someone's Faunus appendage is a sign of the highest trust and is usually only reserved for the one closest to them. It's not something to be done lightly."

"Pfft." Sun scoffed at Blake's words. "That's so old-fashioned. No one goes by that anymore. If people are interested I say let them go for it. It's not like it'll hurt."

"It is customary. Faunus appendages are personal. They are their pride as a race and should be treated as such. Just because some Faunus doesn't respect their inheritance doesn't mean you should trample on it just because you're offered the chance. It's a slap in the face to the rest of them." All these words were directed right at Jaune and for once he finally understood how proud Blake really was to be a Faunus. He thought some part of her might have been ashamed and that was why she hid behind her bow, despite what she said. Sun's tail still hung temptingly in front of him but he no longer wanted to grab it. If Blake didn't even trust him enough to see her's yet, what right did he have to touch someone's he just met?

He nodded to her before turning apologetically to Sun. "Sorry. I'll pass after all."

Sun shrugged and his tail retracted. "Suit yourself." Blake's hand let go of Jaune's wrist and their arms returned to their sides. "You know quite a bit about Faunus culture. Kind of interesting." Sun was looking at Blake knowingly and Jaune found himself wondering if he actually did know. Were Faunus capable of sensing their own kind? He had no idea but Blake didn't seem concerned and just continued to pointedly ignore him as she had since he'd come over. He should probably cover for her seeing as she wasn't going to.

"She does read quite a lot. Probably read a whole encyclopedia about Faunus at one point or another." He said this half-jokingly but sometimes he wondered; Reading an encyclopedia didn't seem like much of a stretch for Blake she read so much.

"You two seem pretty close. You guys grow up together or something?" Sun's question caused Jaune to tilt his head in confusion.

"We only met about ten days ago." Sun's mouth fell wide open at his answer and his eyes shifted back and forth between the two of them in shock.

"T-ten days ago!?" He sputtered in disbelief.

Jaune nodded and glanced to see if Blake would help confirm it. She just kept right on reading. "Do we really act that close?"

Sun nodded with way more vigor than he probably needed. "You two act like you were practically raised together! Anyone looking from the outside would agree with me! You have got to teach me your tricks! She still won't even look at me and I've been here for five minutes."

"It actually took a couple hours before she'd say more than necessary to me too." Jaune rubbed his chin as he reminisced. "She only really started after I accidently caused a Deathstalker to collapse a cave over our heads."

"Are...are you being serious?" Sun shivered lightly in fear. Too bad the guy didn't even know the half of it. Getting Blake's friendship was hardly an easy ordeal now that he thought about it. Still, he would go through everything all over again if it meant keeping it.

The sound of tapping on a microphone interrupted their conversation and all three of them turned to the stage to see Shirou standing front and center on it. Professor Port and three others stood in a line behind him.

"My apologies for the delay everyone." Shirou pulled out his scroll as he talked and hit a couple buttons. When he finished everyone's scroll made a small beep and vibrated as they simultaneously received a message. Jaune pulled his out just as everyone else did to see a huge program pending to be downloaded. "What I've just sent you all you can consider as your personal Lambent Identification. It allows you to enter and leave the tower, operate the elevator, access a majority of the facilities within including your own personal room. There is a map of the floor layout programmed in as well as an interactive map of the surrounding landscape that will update automatically as you journey around to slay Grimm. Your class schedules and weekly assignments will also update frequently."

He paused his speech as he waited for everyone to download the program. Jaune was surprised by how quickly it installed and in only several moments his scroll was displaying a picture of him with a list of statistics such as what school he was representing, his status as team leader, and even Grimm kills since arriving. He cocked his head in confusion at one of the statuses that simply read GKP with the number 500 next to it.

"It looks like most of you have finished at least glancing the system over." Shirou started back up. "Seeing as we are living far outside the kingdoms it isn't exactly feasible to expect any of you to earn money. So we've developed the GKP currency for you to use. It stands for Grimm Killing Points. In other words, the more Grimm you kill the more points you get. The stronger the Grimm the more points it is worth. You will use these points here to supply yourself. This includes meals, gear, even simple necessities such as toothpaste. If you fail at killing many Grimm then you are in for a very rough life here."

Jaune gulped nervously. This was probably what Ozpin had meant when he was talking about incentives to improve yourself. They were practically living in their whole own society out here. He tuned whatever Shirou was saying out as he flipped through some of the pages of information. The map of the tower was interesting to say the least. Beacon's rooms were on the eighth floor. Shirou's office was naturally at the top. He noticed that the sub-floor didn't even appear. That was curious. Did that mean his scroll wasn't authorized to let him go down to that floor either? Only one way to find out but that would have to wait.

The store menu popped up and he was surprised by how much you could actually buy out here. In the small corner of the screen it read 'Provided by the Schnee Dust Company.' That figured.

Next was his class schedule and short bios on the Hunters that would be training them. Classes didn't seem bad at all with him only having to attend four hours a day, four days a week of actually sitting through a lecture. That meant there was likely going to be a lot of out-of-class work though but that made sense given they had to kill Grimm to be able to even feasibly survive out here.

"-aune. Jaune!"

"Huh? What?" He gave a start and tore his gaze from his scroll to see Blake standing over him.

"The headmaster excused us. Everyone is heading to their rooms for the night." She eyed him curiously for a second before glancing at the page on his scroll. "It must have been interesting information. I don't think I've ever seen you read that deeply."

Jaune chuckled awkwardly. "I just love to learn. You know that." She rolled her eyes at him. "What time is it? I didn't think it was nearly that late." He glanced at his scroll to answer his own question and was surprised to see it was already eight at night. Being in a different timezone was messing with his internal clock.

He glanced around to see most of the other students were walking by them and forming a line at the elevator. "Where did Sun go?" He asked as he realized the monkey Faunus was no longer at the table with them.

"His teammates came and dragged him off. He said goodbye but you weren't paying attention."

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ruby and Weiss?"

"They're in line with PYRN to use the elevator." He tried to spot them but they were obscured by the crowd of students. As he looked at them all a thought struck him. This place was supposedly built as a school, right? Why then did they only have one elevator to get around? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have multiple means of getting to each and every floor? Or was he just overthinking things because of the mission Ozpin had given him?

"What're you thinking about right now?" Blake once again snapped him from his thoughts. Damn it. He had to quit being so obvious about all the doubts he was having. What kind of spy was he?

"I was just..." He had to think of something to chance the subject. "...wondering if you were still mad about Penny?" Idiot! Why did he have to bring that back up of all things? Stupid brain.

Blake grimaced slightly before pulling her chair back out and sitting next to him once again. "I wouldn't say I was mad so much as frustrated about it. We're here to become Hunters and Huntresses, Jaune. We can't afford to be distracted by petty things like crushes and gossip." And espionage he added silently in his brain. He shook that thought away. He had to focus on the conversation at hand.

"You're not at least the littlest bit interested in falling in love?" Now that he thought about it, he had no idea about what Blake looked for in a lover. They hadn't exactly talked about things like that yet. Most of what they talked about was actually always training related. She was constantly worried about making sure he got stronger as quickly as possible. It was actually rather unsettling how single-mindedly dedicated she was to that cause.

Blake shrugged at his question. "I've never had the time to think about something like that. Growing up I was always fighting for the cause." She didn't have to elaborate on what that cause was. "I suppose that hasn't changed. Becoming a Huntress is just a step to help me realize that dream. Romance is something that can come afterwards."

"You can't do both? What you're talking about accomplishing isn't necessarily something that you'll even be able to achieve in your lifetime. Don't you want to have children so you can pass your dreams onto them?"

These words caused Blake to frown. "My children should have dreams of their own. I don't want to force my own ambitions down their throat just because I wasn't able to see them through. It will be their lives and not mine to live through vicariously."

His eyes widened in shock. "I-I didn't mean anything like that! I just thought-"

"It's alright, Jaune." She cut him off. "You're trying to fulfill your family lineage so it only makes sense you would think about offspring that way. We're getting a little ahead of ourselves though. Not all school flings lead to having children." She did have a point. Jaune hated to admit it but he was a bit of a romanticist. He always just kind of thought the first girl he genuinely fell in love with would be the girl he would spend the rest of his life with. "My point is, I have no intentions of falling in love out here of all places. It's unnecessary."

"My, my. How boring." Shirou commented and they both tensed up immediately as he stopped behind them. "You two are too young to be giving up on love already. Not that I have much room to talk. My one true love has always been fighting the Grimm." Jaune was no expert in love but that sounded like a horrible experience to him.

"We didn't come here for a life of excitement. Not all of us at least." Blake turned back to Shirou and stared at him evenly.

"Life is no fun if you don't try to find some excitement in it. Live like everyday is your last. You never know if it might be; Especially out here." Jaune had no idea why Shirou insisted on looking at him the whole time he spoke. He hadn't even been the one to say anything yet. Blake appeared to notice this too because she kept glancing back and forth between them.

"Is there something you wanted with us, Headmaster?" Her voice had a slight edge to it now.

"Just thought I'd get to know some of my students is all." Shirou gave them both a disarming smile, not that it had any effect on either of them. "I also thought I would let Mr Arc know that I'll be taking the leaders out on a training trip tomorrow. Just think of it as a warm-up for things to come."

"Just the leaders?" Blake suddenly sounded very concerned and Jaune didn't blame her. If it was just the leaders that meant he wouldn't be with anyone from his team. He had no idea how he was going to survive without any of them. At least he would be with Pyrrha. That was a good thing, right? She was pretty strong so surely she could protect him. That sounded bad when he put it like that. He should be worried about being able to protect others, not himself.

"There are some qualities I wish to put to the test among the leaders. Your lives here are going to be strenuous and I need to be sure you're up to the challenge. If I feel anyone is not ready I withhold the right to send them back. We have no need for someone that is going to die fruitlessly out here afterall." Those words cut more deeply than Jaune would care to admit. Even more-so seeing as they seemed to be directed right at him.

"It looks like the elevator is free. I think we'll be taking our leave now." Blake stood up and grabbed Jaune by the elbow, pulling him up as well.

"You have a goodnight now, Mr Arc. Hopefully we can have a more engaging conversation when your overprotective partner isn't with us tomorrow." Jaune looked at him in horror as Blake dragged him away. The smile on the older man's face was the same perpetual creepy one as always.

"Is it just me or has he taken an unnatural interest in you?" Blake hissed under her breath.

"Please don't joke about something like that!" He tore his eyes away from the headmaster to look at his partner.

"I'm not joking." They arrived at the elevator and Blake waved her scroll in front of it. "I'm just saying you should keep your guard up around that guy. I don't trust him." She said as they waited for the elevator to arrive now.

Jaune shot a glance back to make sure he wasn't listening and was relieved to see he had already walked away. "You too?" He asked as he turned back to Blake. "What specifically is it that you don't trust about him?" He had suspected Blake was wary of him too but was relieved to actually hear her say it aloud.

The door to the elevator opened and Blake dragged him inside. When the door finally closed and started taking them up she responded. "There is something...off about him." She made a dissatisfied face as she for once had difficulty finding the right words. "His whole demeanor seems like one big persona. He's not what he appears to be and that makes me really nervous."

"You're being kind of cryptic about it." Jaune scratched his head as he tried to align Blake's concerns with his own. It wasn't so much to him that Shirou appeared false as it was that he seemed familiar. Why that was though he couldn't figure out. Maybe Blake was having just as much trouble placing it as he was.

"He is also a Schnee. That's enough reason for me to doubt him." That almost made him chuckle as he thought at least she had that to fall back to.

The elevator stopped at their floor and the door slid open to reveal another long hallway, this one with multiple doors on either side. "Here we are." Jaune sighed as he stepped off the elevator. "Where's our room again? Weiss and Ruby must already be there."

"We're actually in separate rooms here." Blake clarified as she began walking.

"Wait, what?" He had just assumed things would be like how they were at Beacon and they would all be bunking in one room together while they were here.

"It makes sense. There are far less students attending this school then Beacon so they can actually afford to room us separately." While that certainly did make sense it sounded much more lonely to him. He had rather enjoyed his week stay at Beacon with three beautiful girls staying the same room as him...even if it had been incredibly nerve-wracking at first; No thanks to Weiss threatening to ruin him if he so much as thought of doing something to any of them.

"This is my room here." Blake stopped outside a metal door with the number six engraved on the front.

Jaune pulled out his scroll and looked for his room number. "It says I'm room five." He turned around to see his door exactly opposite of Blake's. At least she was still close by.

"I'm going to make sure all my stuff is in order. You should do the same." Blake waved her scroll in front of her door and it opened. "Come see me before you go on that mission tomorrow. I want to know what it's about."

"Yeah, will do." Jaune replied absentmindedly as his looked shifted from her room to his door.

"Jaune?" She asked and he grimaced at the concern in her voice.

"Goodnight Blake. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded at her before opening his own door and stepping quickly inside.

"Goodnight Jaune." He heard her mumble before his door closed behind him and isolated him from what felt like the rest of the world. He sat in complete darkness for several seconds before bothering to fumble for the switch to turn the lights on. Once he was able to see the first thing he noticed was how small the room was. Given he was by himself though he supposed it made sense. It wouldn't be a big room like at Beacon when the four of them had stayed together.

A twin-sized bed sat in the corner of the room and in front of it was a small dresser. All his belongings had been set meticulously atop it. Next to the bed was a desk and chair, creating just a small between the two. This was all positioned only a couple small steps away. It wasn't so bad he supposed. At least this room had carpet. He was also used to sleeping in a confined area. He had seven sisters to share with growing up after all. Too bad they weren't here with him. He had left them far behind. His whole previous life was far behind now.

His new life had begun and that was supposed to be a good thing. He may not have his family out here but he had his team.

Why was it then that he felt so alone?

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Merry (belated) Christmas! Sorry this chapter took so long.

Don't know at all how I feel about this chapter. I guess I'll leave it up to y'all to decide. Jaune is really starting to feel the weight of attending this school while being tasked to spy on it, especially now that the headmaster is taking such an interest in him. More on that in the next couple chapters.

Blake's attitude towards Sun is a little different than it was in the show seeing as Jaune already knows and is supportive of her secret so she feels Sun is just something that could expose her. I'm sure I'll write something about that from her perspective down the line but I figured I would just clarify for now in case you felt she seemed OOC to him.

Penny was fun to write at least. I'm actually really proud of the way that whole interaction turned out even if it was mostly reminiscent of her introduction in the show. I don't have plans to include any other teams at the moment. While I could've introduced Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald as a team from Haven, I feel that part of the point of changing the location was to get away from them and their plans. Let Ozpin find someone else to handle them, I say.

Next time, Jaune goes on that special leader mission being led by Shirou.


	10. Thorns

**Auburn**

_Thorns_

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><p>Beta: Coeur Al'Aran<p>

* * *

><p>Jaune groaned and rolled over in his bed. He was having a Hell of a time sleeping and couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Maybe it had something to do with that buzzing noise? What was that anyway? He buried his head under his pillow as he tried to block it out but to no avail.<p>

He tossed his pillow off and let out a much louder groan as he crawled out of his bed to find the source of his ire. His blue eyes came to rest upon a small light sitting on the desk and he ambled over to it, his brain still half-asleep. What freaking time was it? He had to find his scroll. Oh wait, it was his scroll that was making all this racket in the first place. He looked at it curiously to see it ringing and that it was just past midnight. Who the hell would be calling him at this time?

"Hello?" He mumbled groggily as he answered.

"Ah, Mr Arc!" Shirou Schnee's chipper voice came over the other end and energy surged through Jaune's body as he immediately woke up the rest of the way. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm-uhhh...good, I guess?" What was up with this guy? He had already talked to him today. About four hours ago specifically.

"I'm very glad to hear that. I just sent out a message to all the other leaders but I figured I would do you the honour of calling you in person. If you're anything like me then you're a naturally deep sleeper." The hell was this guy talking about? Even though he was more or less awake now he wasn't able to put together why he would be messaging students at midnight. "Don't tell me you forgot?"

"I'm sorry...sir-"

"You can call me Shirou."

"Yeah, okay." He wasn't going to be doing that anytime soon. "I don't remember you saying anything about having to do something at midnight."

"Nonsense, you're just thinking about it all wrong! It's midnight which means that it is fact now tomorrow. You remember what I told you we would be doing tomorrow, don't you?"

Jaune opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried and failed to properly respond. "Y-You mean we're going on that mission right now?"

"So you do remember! Yes, right this moment. Get your gear and come up to my office. The other leaders shall be joining us shortly and we will all depart together." Seriously, why the hell did this guy sound so happy? He was talking about marching out into Grimm territory in the middle of the night! That sounded absolutely terrifying.

Jaune let out a long sigh. "I'll be right there." Before the headmaster had a chance to respond he ended the call. He thought about what Blake had said earlier. Shirou Schnee had for some reason or another taken a very unusual interest in him and it was manifesting in an even more unusual way. Why of all the leaders would he call him? For a moment Jaune wondered if he already knew he was spying for Ozpin here before disregarding the very thought. He hadn't even had a chance to do anything yet.

Speaking of Ozpin, should he call him to report in? What time was it in Vale right now anyway? He shrugged thoughts like the last one off and found Ozpin's number on his scroll. The headmaster of Beacon had given it to him so he could do just this.

After only two rings, he heard a beep as Ozpin answered the other end. "Greetings, Mr Arc. Good to hear that you're still alive." Was he supposed to have died already? "I didn't expect to hear from you so soon. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"I'm just uhh...reporting in." Jaune mumbled awkwardly as he stared at the screen on his scroll.

"Oh? And what have you to report then?" He probably should've expected that question. He hadn't honestly thought that far ahead though. He had only decided to do this a couple seconds ago after all.

"Well, did you know that Weiss' uncle was going to be the headmaster here?" He might as well start with that.

"Shirou?" So Ozpin did know of him. "I believe James did mention something like that, yes. He's an exceptionally skilled Hunter and is personal friends with James so it only makes sense that they would choose him to head the school. Even given the circumstances of what occurred in that area."

"Circumstances?" Jaune had been under the impression that they were the first group of humans to have been out here in...well, ever.

"I also suppose you wouldn't have heard about that." Ozpin mumbled and Jaune could almost feel his reluctance to continue the conversation down this path. "Lambent's location was decided because we had already attempted once to set up a base of operations over there. Rather, The Schnee Dust Company had attempted to set up a base of operations. That land is incredibly rich in natural Dust and Weiss' father wanted to mine it in order to increase output. However, the sudden concentration of Faunus in the area caused the Grimm to swarm and they were all killed. The area was abandoned but the framework had already been established. So Shirou stepped in and offered to use it as a new facility to train Hunters. James was quick to support the decision and now there you are."

"You don't think this is information you could've given me beforehand?" Jaune was no expert but he was pretty sure that in order to do his job it was important for him to have all the facts before going in. This seemed like pretty pivotal information to him. There was one more thing he said that bothered him too. "You said they were all Faunus?"

"Of course." Ozpin said rather matter-of-factly. "The Schnee Dust Company employs Faunus as their Dust miners due to their enhanced vision in darkness and more natural endurance. It also helps that most Faunus are willing to work for less than what's considered minimum wage due to most companies refusing to hire them at all."

Anger boiled in the bottom of Jaune's gut as he heard all this. It was no wonder Blake disliked Weiss so much...or her company at least. As frustrated as it made him though he knew he also had to push it aside for now. He couldn't go and face Shirou angry with him right off the bat. He needed to do what he could to stay in his good graces...even if those graces were downright weird. Speaking of which, should he tell Ozpin about that? Probably. "Do you have any idea why Shirou Schnee would have taken an interest in me? He's gone out his way a couple times already to make conversation and it's kind of freaking me out."

"Hmm…" He could hear Ozpin take a sip from his mug as he processed the information Jaune had just given him. "You two are rather similar now that I think about it." Similar? To that guy? Jaune certainly didn't think so. "I'm sorry to say Mr Arc but I have to go." Ozpin suddenly said before he was able to elaborate further.

"Alright. If I find anything I'll let you know." He wanted to ask him so much more but he could always do it later; provided he survived this mission.

"I look forward to it." Ozpin ended the call and Jaune sat his scroll on the desk. He quickly stripped his onesie off and dressed in his combat gear. After making sure he had absolutely everything he needed he ran out the door and into the hallway.

He stopped immediately outside his door and just stared at the one across from him. It was Blake's room. She had told him to stop and see her before the mission. She probably hadn't accounted for his mission to start at midnight, however. Then again no one had. She would surely be asleep and would probably be angry at him for waking her up. He really wanted to see her though. He was about to go fight Grimm and for the first time he had done such a thing he wouldn't have her at his side. What if he wasn't ready to handle this on his own? What if he died out there? Their last conversation had hardly been anything he would call spectacular.

"Jaune?" A new voice pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to see Pyrrha walking out from her room. That was right! She was a leader too. Maybe he wouldn't be with Blake but he would have one of the most accomplished huntresses-in-training in this generation with him. Maybe he wouldn't die after all.

"Hey! You ready for this mission?" He put on the most confident persona he could muster and strut up to her.

"Is it a mission? The only thing my message said was that all the leaders are to report to the Headmaster's office immediately." Pyrrha tilted her head in confusion at him. He had forgotten that he had been the only one Shirou had actually mentioned the mission to beforehand. It seems like he would have at least said more than that in his message to the rest of them though.

"He may have mentioned it to me earlier." Jaune mumbled offhandedly.

Pyrrha nodded lightly in acceptance and gave a polite smile as she indicated towards the elevator. "Shall we go?"

"Ladies first." Jaune gave a slight bow and Pyrrha let out a small giggle. He beamed positively at her reaction. It felt great to make such a beautiful girl laugh. They boarded the elevator together and stood side by side as it started to take them to the top floor.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She let out a long, tired yawn and stretched her arms far above her head. As she did she happened to accent her more womanly assets and he quickly averted his eyes to keep from staring, a deep blush now on his face.

"Do elevators cause your motion sickness to act up too?" Pyrrha leaned forward in concern, her red ponytail dangling over her shoulder and he took a hurried step away from her.

"Y-yeah, they do." He lied. He would rather she think he was about to throw up then think he was checking her out. One would actually think he'd be used to dealing with beautiful girls by now. He had three of them on his team after all. Maybe it was because they were all on his team though he tried really hard not to look at them that way. Weiss would murder him if he did and he had worked real hard to get the little respect she did have for him. He wasn't going to ruin it by flirting with her. Ruby was...well, she was Ruby. She was cute, quirky, and had the ability to act downright adorable on command. She was also still just a little kid at heart though and trying to flirt with her just felt wrong. That and Yang very well might murder him.

Blake...she was his partner. They had already discussed this. He quickly waved thoughts of her away and refocused on the woman in the elevator with him. He actually didn't know a whole lot about Pyrrha except what Weiss had told him. He had hardly interacted with her at all but she seemed very polite and surprisingly humble. He never would've guessed she was the Champion of a fighting tournament multiple times if no one told him. That right there set the bar pretty high.

"Would it help you if I rub your back?" Pyrrha had already entered his personal space yet again and he felt her hand pat him lightly. It took every fibre in his being not to yelp and jump away from the unexpected contact.

"Y-You don't have to do that." Damn that stutter of his. Where the hell did all the confidence he had shown her at the beginning go? Oh, that was right. He faked it. He always fell apart after the first couple lines. Man, this must look pretty lame from her point of view.

"Nonsense. I'm more than happy to help out a fellow leader." Pyrrha spoke softly as she gave him one of the most sincere smiles he had ever seen. He met her green eyes in disbelief and the blush on his face got a little deeper. He saw her smile falter for half a second and he wondered if he had creeped her out now. "I was wondering-" She hesitated for a couple seconds before her face settled into a resolved look. "-seeing as you and I are both leaders, maybe we could get together from time to time and help one another out? Discuss things like tactics and such."

"Are-are you being serious?" Pyrrha looked slightly taken aback by his question before looking somewhat hurt.

"I mean, if you don't want to-"

He quickly shook his head. "No way! That sounds awesome! You have no idea how much that would help me out! I've been stressing out so much about being a leader. It would be great to have someone else to talk to who knows what that's like." Weiss would stab him if she ever heard that he said that.

Pyrrha looked relieved and then ecstatic and his response. "That's grand! I'm so glad to hear you feel that way." With one hand still on his back she extended her other towards him.

"You are?" He tilted his head curiously as he shook her extended hand.

She nodded and then averted her gaze lightly. It must have just been her hair but he could've sworn he saw her blushing slightly. "Of course. I've been very interested in getting to know you...as a fellow leader. I think we could both improve with one another's help."

"Ah." Jaune's smile turned self-depreciating and he felt a spark of guilt. She must have assumed that because he was a leader he was actually a decent student. Once they started hanging out though she was going to discover the truth about him. There was no way she was going to improve by hanging out with him. Instead he was going to end up the one reaping all the benefits of hanging out with a true leader. Would it be better if he just came clean now instead of letting her find out on her own?

Before he could come to a decision the door opened as they arrived at Shirou's office. Pyrrha was already walking off the elevator and he quickly skipped forward to keep up with her. The office was much smaller than he had imagined. It looked like every other team leader was already here and the twenty of them stood rather cramped in front of a small wooden desk.

"Jaune! My very best friend! It is so wonderful to meet you again so soon!" He had no chance to react as someone sprung forward and wrapped him in a bonecrushing hug and hoisted him into the air.

"Penny!" He wheezed as his feet flailed and he felt his face his turn blue. Seriously, how ridiculously strong was this girl!? He tried glancing to Pyrrha for help but she took a nervous step away in case she received the same type of affection. "Why are you hugging me?" He attempted to no avail to wiggle himself free and Penny tightened her grip a little more in response.

"Is this not how best friends greet one another?" Penny tilted her head in confusion as she finally set him back on his feet. Jaune took in a huge breath as his lungs filled themselves with air.

"I suppose some friends do hug when they meet one another, yes." Since when did he and Penny become best friends? He had only had one conversation with her and had pretty much fled from it the first chance he got.

"Then why are you confused Jaune? You can be so strange sometimes." Really now. She was calling him strange?

"I had no idea you were the leader of your team." Sun smirked at the two of them as he approached. There were a surprising number of familiar faces seeing he knew almost no one at this school "I would've guessed it was Ice Queen by the way Neptune talked."

Jaune chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "Believe me, if she had her way she would be the leader." He looked past Sun and towards the desk, expecting to see the headmaster standing behind it. He didn't see him and tilted his head in confusion. If he wasn't there then where was he?

"I'm glad you could all make it." Jaune let out a girly shriek as Shirou spoke from immediately behind him. As if he hadn't even heard it Shirou kept right on talking. "We'll be taking an excursion out to a Grimm nest today in order for me to get a better evaluation of your skills. As the leaders of your respective teams there are many things you must be prepared to face out here. Now if you all are ready, will you follow me?" He patted Jaune lightly on the shoulder and nudged him forward. He led him through the crowd and to the back of his office where he opened a door Jaune hadn't even realized was there.

Behind it was a set of stairs leading upwards. Where they ended he couldn't tell as they spiralled around a corner and disappeared. "After you Mr Arc." Shirou's hand had yet to leave his shoulder and it was starting to freak him out. It kind of felt like he was being led to his doom without him having any say in the matter. Reluctantly he started up the steps and could hear everyone else follow after him.

"You're rather tense Mr Arc." Yeah, there was a pretty good reason for that. He would be a lot less tense if this guy would just allow him to go back to his room and go to bed. He didn't exactly care to go Grimm hunting when they were at their most deadly. He didn't voice any of this aloud and simply continued up the stairs until he came to what he assumed was the roof of the tower.

A huge dome blocked out the sky and the only light source came from some spherical object that was glowing a sickly green in the middle of the room. Sun let out a long whistle that echoed loudly as he and the other leaders arrived as well. "How're we supposed to get to the Grimm from all the way up here?"

"We fly of course." Shirou tapped a couple buttons on his scroll and in immediate response the loud clunking of gears turning reached their ears as the dome split into eight sections that unfolded away from one another like a giant, budding flower.

Moonlight flooded into the dome and the roar of an airship's engine could be heard as it waited just outside for them. A strong gust of cold wind whipped through the gaps and Jaune turned his head away from the unexpected chill and back to the strange object in the center. "What is that thing?" It looked incredibly ominous to him, probably just because of how unappealing the light it cast off appeared.

"It's just a beacon to help pilots locate the tower in case of a storm." Shirou answered rather off-handedly. "Come on now, the ship is docking." He tapped Jaune's shoulder once again and he turned to the see the ship hung off the edge of the tower with its back-hatch open and waiting. The other students were already jogging ahead to board with the exception of Pyrrha, Penny, and Sun. The three of them were waiting for him. He smiled appreciatively at them and they all walked towards the ship together.

As they got closer to the edge Jaune was hit with the realization of how high in the air they truly were. It was no exaggeration to say that he could see for kilometers in every direction. He had slept for most of the ride here and the only bit of landscape he had taken in was when he had fought his way in the last little bit. Flashes of red from below caught his eye and he tilted his head almost straight down. He couldn't see anything as the tower eclipsed the moonlight but then he saw streaks of red and realized they were the lasers that had protected them yesterday. Did that mean Grimm were trying to get into the tower? It probably wasn't surprising given their location but it was still a little disconcerting.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha was the last one beside him to board the ship.

"Right! Sorry." He had forgotten what he was doing for a second he had been so taken by the view. With a light jump he boarded the ship and its hatch began to close behind him. As it did the ship began moving and he was hit all at once by a sense of vertigo. Ah crap. One more thing he had forgotten because he was so swept up in the moment was his motion sickness. He was about to make a complete dunce of himself in front of all the other leaders. There went any credibility he had. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? They weren't likely going far so maybe it was just a matter of holding out. He could handle that. Probably.

"Excuse me, Mr Headmaster?" Penny extended her palm into the air and stood as high as she could on her toes as if it would make her easier to see then she already was.

"Go ahead Miss Penny." He nodded to her in acknowledgement.

"Yes Sir!" Penny saluted although Jaune had no idea why. "Where is our destination and what is our objective tonight, Sir?" She at least brought up a couple good questions even if she asked them in a really strange manner. Maybe Ironwood had drilled his military training into her? Must have been rough growing up with him.

"Ah yes. I suppose you would all appreciate some details on what we'll be doing." He grinned at everyone and they all nodded quickly in agreement; Everyone except for Jaune who was trying to be as still as possible. The less he moved the better.

"We're heading to a location known as Razor Canyon. It is notable for the massive thorny vines that infest the entire gorge. It is also the location of a populated Deathstalker nest." Jaune gave a light heave and Shirou paused to look at him. For the first time Jaune had seen his smile was gone and a disgruntled frown had replaced it.

"Sorry. Go on." Jaune waved for him to continue as he went back to focus on not puking. He also tried not to focus on the fact that he was about to go up against an army of Deathstalkers. He had only ever encountered one and he had no desire to repeat that experience. Hopefully they weren't dwelling in any caves.

Sun slid up to him as discreetly as possible and leaned close to him. "You feeling alright there bud?" He whispered under his breath.

Jaune gave him a thumbs up as he leaned against the wall of the ship. "Peachy. Just some light-headedness. I'll be fine." Hopefully.

Sun didn't look quite convinced but didn't appear interested in pressing the point either. "So listen, I was just wondering a little to myself, and don't take this the wrong way or anything, but seriously what is your relationship with that Blake girl?" Sun glanced sideways and his eyes widened and Jaune turned to see Pyrrha was listening in on the two of them. He merely shrugged it off. He didn't care if she overheard his answer after all.

"Blake and I are partners and she's my best friend. She's saved my life a couple times so I owe her quite a bit. That's really all there is to it." While that wasn't exactly all there was to it he felt that summed their relationship up pretty neatly without giving away either of their secrets.

"So...you're not pining for her or anything?" Sun twirled his thumbs and flinched slightly back as the words left his mouth. He was probably worried about the consequences of being right as he was pretty much admitting to Jaune that he was interested.

"No, nothing like that." Jaune started to shake his head but paused as his stomach wretched. Instead he waved it off with one hand while the other gripped his gut. "You've got a tough battle ahead of you though if you're trying to get with her. She doesn't exactly see the value of pursuing a relationship out here."

"You're saying that you'd be willing to help me though?" Sun asked, suddenly very optimistic despite Jaune's warning.

He opened his mouth to tell him that he would do what he could but his breath hitched and this time it wasn't because he might puke. Was it really okay for him to just agree to this? He didn't exactly know this guy all that well but he seemed cool enough. Bonus points to him being a Faunus. Surely if Blake was interested in a guy he would have to be like her in that regard. If it turned out he was actually a huge jerk he could always just quit anyways. So what was stopping him?

Blake would surely be pissed if she found out. Why should that matter though? He had done plenty of things to make her mad already and he would be doing this for her own good. If she got together with Sun that would surely make her happy. Love made everyone happy, didn't it? That sounded kinda childish but screw it, he was making a point. He should definitely help Sun out. He had no good reason not to. Yet he couldn't for the life of him bring himself to say yes.

"I hate to interrupt-" For once, Jaune was glad to hear the headmaster's voice. "-but Mr Arc looks like he may lose the contents of his stomach at any second. If I may ask, why aren't you utilizing your Aura to stabilize yourself?"

Every gear in Jaune's brain ground to halt at what he heard. "You can do that!?" He half-yelled in a mix of shock and anger. If he could do that why hadn't someone felt the need to share that with him?

"Normally one's Aura does that automatically for them." Shirou sounded slightly fascinated as he inspected Jaune up and down. "How did you have your Aura unlocked? Did a teacher at your old school do it or was it perhaps your parents?" Worry flashed across Jaune's face for a second before he reined it in. He couldn't let this guy know that Blake had only done it barely two weeks ago.

"Does it really matter who unlocked it?" He asked a little too defensively.

Shirou paid no mind to his tone. "Of course it matters. When it comes to unlocking your Aura there are many factors to consider. Your age, emotional state, who unlocked it, what chant they used. There is a whole myriad of factors that go into it and can have varying differences on both your Aura and even your Semblance. If done incorrectly it could be catastrophic for you."

"My Aura works just fine!" Even if he had done it unintentionally he had just insinuated that Blake had messed up when unlocking his Aura. She wouldn't have made a mistake like that and his Aura had saved his life already several times. He knew it worked.

"It surely doesn't make that much difference does it?" Pyrrha questioned curiously as she stepped forward. "Your Aura is the manifestation of your own personal soul. All of those things don't change who you are."

"Don't they? You can't tell me that the you four years ago is the same person you are now. Your opinions, attitudes, sometimes your whole personality changes. Not to mention that when someone unlocks your Aura they're inserting a part of their soul into your own. That very act leaves residual effects that last the rest of your life." Shirou talked excitedly and actually sounded somewhat like a teacher for once. He must really be passionate about Aura.

As fascinating as it all was though, it wasn't helping him feel any less sick. So instead he focused inwards as he always did when tapping onto his Aura. He found that little light in himself and called upon it. Almost immediately he felt sweet relief wash over himself as he did. He seriously wished he had known this earlier. He never had to worry about motion sickness again.

"What did you just do?" Sun asked and he realized everyone on the ship was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Uhh...what?" He didn't understand the question.

"You started glowing all gold for a second and your Aura like pulsed over me." Sun looked to the others for backup and a couple of them nodded.

"Isn't that normal?" He really should have read that book about Aura that Blake had given him. As it stood he knew almost nothing other than a couple off-hand comments by her while she tried to figure out his Semblance.

"Most peculiar." Shirou rubbed his chin and smirked as he studied Jaune up and down once again. That was just great, he had already been on this guy's radar but now he had solidified himself as someone to keep an eye on. "Do you mind if I ask what your Semblance is?"

"My Semblance?" He didn't have the faintest clue what it was. That wasn't necessarily such a big deal though. Blake had assured him that sometimes it took years for people to discover what it was. She had also said it usually reflected the type of person you were when your Aura was unlocked. The only thing he had wanted then and now was to help people. It would make sense if his Aura reflected that. At least he thought so.

Shirou seemed to sense Jaune's discomfort because he immediately amended his last question. "Well it doesn't matter. This mission should tell us more. Actions speak louder than words after all." And now he was expecting him to go out there and show him what he was made of. This kept getting better and better. Jaune had to fight the urge to sigh in frustration.

"Speaking of which, we're almost there." Shirou checked his scroll which was attached to his wrist like a watch. "I suggest you all mentally prepare yourselves. The Grimm out here are numerous and a lot of them grow to be incredibly large." Jaune gulped at his words. "Having said that though, we believe this nest to be fresh so there should only be a couple full-grown Deathstalkers."

"Just a couple." Jaune repeated dryly. That sounded like a couple more than he wanted to face. Odds were in his favor though that one of the others would take care of them for him. He should probably try to stick as close to Pyrrha as possible and just pick off some of the easier ones. It wasn't the most noble way to fight but it had kept him alive so far.

He felt Sun pat him roughly on the shoulder and turned to see him grinning broadly. "Don't look so worried man. I'll keep an eye on you in place of Blake. She's bound to appreciate that." This guy certainly had a one-track mind, not that he could blame him.

"Thanks." At the very least it felt good to know he had made other friends so it wasn't like he was going to be alone. Thinking that he also turned to Penny. "You ready for this?"

Penny gave him another one of her serious salutes. "I'm combat ready!" He would take that as a yes.

The hatch began to open just after she said that. "That's good because we're here." Shirou gestured out into the air. "Students first." Looks like they were jumping again. What was it with Hunters having to jump out of everything? He got that it was dangerous for the ship to touch down and all but he was seriously getting sick of this.

"Let's do this." Sun didn't even hesitate to sprint full force out the back and jump. With numerous shouts of encouragement the others all followed quickly after him.

Jaune took several deep breaths as everyone ran around him and made their way off the ship and into combat. He could do this. He had to do this. Pyrrha looked back at him in worry for a second before she also jumped after everyone. The only ones that had yet to move were himself, Penny, and Shirou.

He needed to hurry. If he fell too far behind Pyrrha he wasn't going to be able to stick closely to her. With every ounce of willpower he had he took his first step forward. Before he could take his next he felt Penny's arm lock around his neck. "It is time for our grand entrance Jaune!" She broke into a run and nearly yanked him off his feet as she pulled him along.

"Wait! Penny! Not like this!" It was too late as she jumped off the ship for both of them and he entered freefall. Instinctively he wrapped an arm around her waist as they tumbled towards the ground.

The others below him were already fighting, having likely come across Grimm the moment they hit the ground. Speaking of the ground, hearing about where they were heading and actually seeing it were definitely two different things. They were falling right towards a massive chasm that appeared to split the earth in two for leagues. How deep it went was impossible to tell due to the massive forest of twisting vines that filled it. Each individual vine was so large it easily held four students fighting side-by-side and had giant thorns protruding all over their surface and if he was looking at it right they were heading right for one those thorns.

"Penny! Please tell me you have a landing strategy!" They were mere seconds from a very painful death and Penny had yet to do anything to adjust their trajectory or slow their descent.

"Have no fear Jaune! I have a plan!" He really hoped that plan involved dodging that thorn they were about to crash into. A small hissing noise reached his ears and he could've sworn he saw ten swords fly out of her back out of the corner of his eye. He disregarded it as ridiculous until those swords flew across his vision and buried themselves in the wall of the canyon. Penny flexed her fingers and like they were attached to a string the swords reeled them in and changed their descent from downwards to sideways.

They flew for several meters until skidding to a stop on a vine that ran a little higher than the rest. "That was actually a really good plan." Jaune patted himself down with his free hand and was relieved to feel he was all there. His other arm was still wrapped around Penny's waist and her own arm still had him in a headlock. The swords detached themselves from the wall and came flying back to her. They stopped behind her back and formed a circle as they hovered in place.

She finally removed her arm and he did the same as he took in the surroundings. They stood on one of the higher vines and directly beneath them he could hear the other students' shouts of exertion as they clashed against their enemies. They needed his help! He ran to the edge and looked down to see numerous of the green stalks criss-crossing beneath him. A short distance away he saw Pyrrha and Sun fighting side-by-side as they each took on at least four Deathstalkers.

At least these Deathstalkers weren't nearly as big as the one he and Blake had encountered in the cave. A majority of them were only up to his waist tall and they appeared to be much less durable than the bigger ones as well as evidence when Pyrrha's sword pierced one in the head and killed it.

"There's a free group for us down there Jaune!" From the darkness below came a small armada of Deathstalkers, the bulbs of their stingers illuminating them. They were pretty far removed from the others and were scaling their way up the vines with horrifying precision.

"Oh boy. Maybe we should meet up with the others? That looks like a lot for us to take on by ourselves." He took a couple steps back and hoped Penny had the sense to listen to him.

"Just leave this to me!" Or she would completely ignore him and charge forward by herself. That worked too. She jumped down and flew towards them. He glanced back at everyone else. No one was isolated and they all had a partner by their side. He would be absolute scum to leave Penny on her own.

"Here goes nothing." He unhooked Crocea Mors and let out a long sigh as he chased after his weirdest friend. He began scurrying down the vines, jumping from one to the next in an effort to get down there as quickly as possible. This was not going according to his plan at all. He should have jumped out with Pyrrha. Penny did wield ten swords at once though, that had to make her pretty capable, right?

The answer to that question was beyond a shadow of a doubt yes. Her swords flew from her back and homed in on the Deathstalkers like missiles. They slashed, pierced, and cut through them like butter before she had even landed on the ground. How was she doing that? Maybe she could teach him to do that with his sword?

As she was preoccupied with the Grimm in front of her though a dozen of them scurried from around the underside of the vines behind her. "Penny!" He shouted in warning as he finally jumped to the vine she was fighting on. He landed on the back of one of the Deathstalkers and thrust his sword directly into its head. With a sickening crunch he pierced its flesh and it collapsed beneath him. A couple of the others turned to him and their beady, little, red eyes glared angrily at him. The rest continued after Penny.

"Don't ignore me!" He jumped off of the one he was standing on and rushed past the couple that were coming for him. One of the lunged at him with its stinger but he ran around the side of one of the giant thorns and its stinger struck that in his place.

He came up to one of the ones ignoring him and slashed its stinger clean off. It gave a terrifying screech as it thrashed in pain which he ended by stabbing it in the side and killing it. He was doing good. Two down, only a hundred to go. A flash of orange out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he brought his shield up just in time to block the stinger strike of one of the couple he had run past. It hissed at him and he only responded by thrusting his sword forward and killing it.

Two more ran up on either side and lunged at him. He jumped and rolled out of the way but failed to recover properly and smashed into one of the thorns with his head. "That hurt." He grumbled as he stumbled to get back to his knees. As he did another stinger descended towards his head. He brought his shield up and barely blocked the strike but thanks to his awkward stance he was knocked over and onto this back.

Three of them stood over him and he crawled backwards as quickly as he could to put distance between himself and them. He didn't get far before he ran smack into the same thorn that had interrupted his roll. Well, this had gone south very quickly for him. Not that he was really surprised by the sudden turn of events. He didn't exactly have much talent of his own without someone from his team being there to follow-through.

Their stingers poised to strike and his body tensed as all three of them paused right in front of him. He hoisted himself into a crouch using the thorn to his back as support and held his sword so it was pointing backwards instead of how he usually used it. Penny was still engaging her own set of opponents. He had to do this if he wanted to survive. Blake would be ashamed if he went down like this. He just really hoped this worked.

Their stingers jabbed at him simultaneously and Jaune swung his sword arm around to intercept them. Adrenaline caused time to appear to stop for just a brief second and in a moment of clarity Jaune knew which stringer was going to hit him first and just where he needed to swing to save his life. He gave a loud roar as his sword sliced right where the tail met the stinger of the Deathstalker to his right. It continued through without slowing down and he continued to swing his sword in that arc until it did the same thing to the two Deathstalker's after.

Their stingers hit the ground and their tails whipped backwards like broken cords. The Grimm continued to hiss at him and struck with their pincers instead this time. They certainly didn't know when to give up. He kicked off the ground and brought his shield forward and bashed the left one in the face. He then loosed his grip on his sword for a second to spin it around so he could hold it properly and swung it downwards, cutting the middle one open down its center. He quickly backpedalled towards the stunned Grimm and away from the pincers of the last one.

Finally he was able to put some distance between himself and them, not that they posed much threat without their main form of attack. They could certainly still kill him but his chances of survival were much better now. At least they were until four more scuttled up behind them. "Oh come on!" One on one was one thing. He could probably handle that all day. It was what Blake had trained him for after all. He was horrible at taking on groups at a time.

Should he make a run for it? That would probably look pretty pathetic. That might be fine as long as it kept him alive though. Six Deathstalkers, even little ones, were probably a little too much for him. He once again glanced over towards Penny but to his surprise she was gone. Before he could think much of it though she landed directly in front of him. "Whoa!" He shouted in surprise and took a step back.

"I told you to leave this to me, Jaune." Despite her words she sounded really happy as she held her hands in front of herself. Her swords flew through the air and made short work of the six Deathstalkers Jaune had just been worrying about. He had to double-take as he took in the sight of all the dead Deathstalker's around them. She had easily killed more than thirty of them on her own! He had killed a whopping four before being forced to retreat. He supposed he really could have left it to her. "I appreciate your assistance though. Thank you, friend!" Penny spun around and grinned brightly at him as her swords returned to her back.

"Ah...yeah, don't mention it." He kind of hated being thanked when he really didn't do anything. Saying such things would probably go over Penny's head so he kept quiet.

"I think we have eliminated all of the Deathstalkers in our area. We should move on to assist the others." Penny took a couple steps towards the sounds of battle and Jaune turned towards it as well. They had descended a little farther than the others now and he couldn't see any of them but it sounded like they were doing well. This wasn't turning out to be much of a mission. Not that he was complaining. It definitely helped that there were twenty of them. This task would've been impossible for any team alone.

"You think you can-" Jaune started to say but cut himself short as a loud crash echoed across the canyon. Following just behind it were several screams of pain and even more of terror. "Penny! Get us up there!" Jaune ran up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist like before.

"Right!" Penny's sword flew into the air and latched onto a vine just above them. For a brief second he thought he caught a glimpse of wires attaching Penny to them thanks to the moonlight. That certainly explained how she was controlling them. They must have been reeling them in too because in only a moment Penny was hoisted into the air, taking Jaune with her.

What he saw when they gained a high enough vantage point was anything but pleasant. Two giant Deathstalker's had arisen from the depths beneath them had had begun their assault. Several students had already been knocked down and a couple vines had collapsed, causing chaos and confusion amongst those that were still standing.

"We gotta help them." Jaune's mind kicked into overdrive as he attempted to devise a plan. The one Deathstalker was fairly close to them. If he just jumped a little to the right he would land on a vine that would take him right to it. It was a steep slope down though and he'd have trouble maintaining his balance and fighting it at the same time. If there was a way for him to get beneath it like when he and Blake...wait a second, he had it! "Penny! I'll take care of the one closest to us. Can you help take care of the other one?"

"I certainly can, Captain!" Penny saluted and begun swinging from side to side. Once she had enough momentum, Jaune let go and flew towards the vine the others were fighting on. He landed on it more roughly than intended and his feet buckled beneath him. "You okay?" Penny yelled in concern.

"I'm fine! Go help the others!" Jaune waved it off and Penny saluted once more before swinging herself off to do as he ordered.

He looked down the slope and was relieved to see the Deathstalker had its back turned to him. Four students were engaging it fruitlessly in combat, their dust rounds and weapons unable to penetrate it's exterior shell. A collapsed vine had them pinned with no way to escape but jumping further down.

"Hang on!" Pyrrha yelled as she and Sun landed on top of the Deathstalker. They delivered their strongest blows but it had no effect against its sturdy outer shell and they were forced to jump off of it as it started thrashing violently in an attempt to debunk them. They landed awkwardly next to the others and were forced back against the vine. If Jaune didn't act quickly they were all going to be killed.

"Okay, I can do this. I've done this before." Jaune took a couple deep breaths as he slipped his shield off and dropped it on the ground in front of him. Just like when he escaped from the Chimera...only this time he would be charging right towards the giant creature of Grimm instead. It swung its pincer and nearly clipped one of the students. Several of them shouted in fear and fired their weapons at it.

He couldn't hesitate any longer. He gave his shield a slight kick and ran after it as it began to slide down. He jumped in the air and landed on it on his back and almost immediately it accelerated far more quickly than he had anticipated. He channelled his Aura into his feet as he prepared for the swift impact that was going to follow if he pulled this off. If he didn't...well then he would die regardless if he survived this part or not.

"Get out of the way!" He shouted as loud as he could just as he was coming up on the Deathstalker.

"Jaune?" He heard Pyrrha exclaim in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sun quickly hefted another student to their feet and helped him dodge the Deathstalker's stinger.

"Please work." Jaune closed his eyes for a brief second before he slid under the Deathstalker. He passed by its tail and once he was completely enveloped by its shadow he thrust his sword upwards. The satisfying sound of his sword tearing into flesh reached his ears and the Deathstalker screamed horrendously in pain as he gouged a giant hole into its underside. Blood splattered behind him as the creatures wound gushed heaps of it. In only a second he appeared at the other end and slammed into the collapsed vine in front of him.

His legs seized again in pain and his whole vision shot white but thankfully his Aura protected him from any real damage. The Deathstalker behind him collapsed and slid off the vine. It made several loud crashes as it bounced further and further into the darkness below.

The other six students stood completely still in shock as they tried to process what had just happened. "Did you just…" Sun's mouth started working first. "...kill it?"

"Uhh...I think so?" Jaune just lay where he was, partially because he was still too relieved it had worked and he hadn't died and partially because his legs still hurt like a bitch.

"Incredible!" Pyrrha whispered breathlessly. "How did you even think to do that?"

"I've done something similar before. Although last time it nearly took me down with it." Feeling was finally beginning to return to his legs. Thank you, Aura!

"You weren't lying about that cave-in, huh?" Sun must have recalled what he told him yesterday.

Jaune smirked at him before one of the other students finally seemed to realize what had just transpired. "You...just saved our lives."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Jaune mumbled while scratching his cheek.

"No you definitely did! We would have died if it wasn't for you!" Another one of them chimed in. The other two quickly voiced their agreement as well which only served to fluster Jaune further. He hadn't done anything that great. It was just dumb luck that it had worked out after all.

"Come on! Time to get up, Hero." Sun teased as he grabbed Jaune gruffly under one of his shoulders.

"You should be more proud of yourself. You did a great thing." Pyrrha beamed at him as she assisted Sun in lifting him to his feet.

"No, no. It really wasn't." Jaune continued to try to deny their praise anyways. It wasn't right of him to accept it. He wasn't that great of a student at all. They were all much more talented than him so being praised by them just felt wrong.

A flash of green behind him caught all their attention and they turned to see Penny firing a massive Dust beam at her Deathstalker, ripping it into pieces. Now that was how you got things done. Seriously though, how did she do that?

"I think you've got some competition." Sun patted Jaune sympathetically on the shoulder. He disagreed of course, he didn't have a chance against a girl that could do something like that.

"We need to gather everyone up and take care of the injured." Pyrrha hopped up the vine that was blocking their path. "There might still be some Grimm around too. We need to be careful."

"Right!" The others all quickly spread out and Jaune hurried to keep up with Pyrrha.

"Did you see where the headmaster went off to?" Jaune asked as he hefted himself up. He hadn't even seen him jump out of the ship and had kind of expected him to lend his aid. Even if they were expected to be elite students, they hadn't really had any kind of classes out here yet. It seemed like he would be invested in making sure they all remained alive for now.

Pyrrha shook her head. "I haven't seen him." As she talked she continued to scan for anyone that was in need of assistance.

"I think everyone is more or less wrapping things up." Sun landed nimbly next to them. "Watching those two big ones get taken out like they were nothing was a pretty handy morale booster. I thought someone was actually going to die for a minute there."

"There have yet to be any casualties!" Penny yelled from a vine above them. She jumped down and was quickly followed by a dozen other students. "Only a couple were injured and they suffered light sprains at worst!"

Jaune nodded and did a quick head count. It looked like almost everyone was accounted for. He glanced at where Pyrrha was looking to see the remaining few leaders kill off what looked like the last couple Deathstalkers.

Was that...it?

He had expected this whole thing to be much more dire than what it was. Maybe that was just him being overly pessimistic. Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't over. It was apparent he was alone in these thoughts as the others clamored happily amongst one another and talked about how many they had killed. He stared awkwardly at them, not really sure how to join in.

Sun appeared to take notice of this and patted Jaune roughly on the back. "How about some cheers for Jaune and Penny?" He shouted loud enough to get everyone's attention. "Without the two of them one of us might have actually bit the dust to those big bastards! They each killed one of them single-handedly!"

Before he had a chance to protest he was overwhelmed by yells of agreement to Sun's words. Several of them stepped forward and patted him as they gave their thanks and he shrunk back under their attention and gratitude. Penny appeared unfazed as she received similar praise.

"Jaune? You alright?" Pyrrha stepped as close as she could to him and whispered into his ear. She was the only one that seemed to realize they were making him uncomfortable.

He nodded and gave her the most confident smile he could which he had no doubt was half-assed. "I've always wanted to get this kind of praise. Now that I'm actually getting it I'm just not sure what to do." He mumbled back as quietly as he could.

"That's easy!" Not quietly enough as Sun overheard him. "When we get back to Lambent we're gonna get you a date! Use your achievements to your advantage!" That actually didn't sound too bad. Although he doubted Blake would approve.

A loud ringing noise interrupted their celebration and everyone's hands flew to their ears and their eyes squinted in pain. After only a second it disappeared. "The hell was that?" One of the others shouted.

"It sounded like microphone feedback." Pyrrha responded as she held her hands close to her ears in case it happened again.

As they all tried to figure out what possibly could have caused that their scrolls started ringing. Everyone shared a confused look as they pulled them out. Jaune immediately recognized the number since it had just called him earlier. It was Shirou Schnee.

He answered while everyone else was still looking at it and he heard all of theirs click open in response. "Hello everyone! Sorry about that noise just a second ago! I set the whistle to the wrong frequency."

Whistle? Frequency? What was he talking about?

"I am also sorry to tell you all that I lied to you. Coming out here to clear the nest wasn't your true mission. Your actual training is unfortunately going to be much more brutal than that. You see, my scroll is now releasing a signal human's aren't capable of detecting. Grimm on the other-hand, well they can hear it for leagues and let me tell you does it drive them crazy. Odds are they'll be swarming on this location in a matter of minutes."

"What!?"

"Are you crazy?!"

"Now, now, don't be like that. I'm not so cruel as to leave you guys stranded. Just before this I called your teammates and gave them this location. They should be running out here to save you now. Which leaves you all three options. You can hold out in this canyon until dawn. That is likely your best option. Sure, a few of you will inevitably succumb to death before then but I have good faith that at least half of you will survive. We can reconfigure teams after."

At least half? This guy planned on letting half of them die!? Jaune's breath quickened and became short as fear gripped him.

"You're of course welcome to flee. The signal is coming from my scroll after all so I'm the one they're running too. This signal tends to rile Grimm up though so they'll probably attack the first thing they see so be stealthy about it if you choose to do that. I'm not too sure how much your teammates are going to appreciate you abandoning this location though seeing as they're running towards this deathtrap specifically to save you. As a precaution, I deactivated your teammate's scrolls so you won't be able to get a hold of them. Ultimately the choice is yours."

Everyone glanced at one another, his words dangling over their heads. It went without saying they couldn't run. They also couldn't stand here when it was likely half of them were going to die. There had to be something else.

"...One last thing you could do." Shirou's voice cut back in after a half-minutes pause. "I'm currently hidden in the canyon beneath you all. If you could find me and are capable of destroying my scroll you could end this whole thing before it even has a chance to begin."

That didn't sound so bad. Maybe that was their best option? He couldn't possibly take on all twenty of them.

"This is the option I recommend least. I am capable of cutting down most of these Grimm out here with a single stroke and I won't hesitate to use those skills against you if you come after me. I have no need for weak students that are going to attempt the easy way out." Jaune gulped. Well, there went that idea. He wasn't going to be the one going after him, that was for sure.

"Well then, that is all. Good luck." With a click all their scrolls hung up at once and they could only stare in shock at one another.

If his words were to be believed half of them were going to die.

No one dared moved or say a word. They didn't know what to say.

Finally, a noise permeated through the silence but it wasn't a comforting one.

It was the angry cries of hundreds of Grimm as they zeroed in on their location.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Well, that was fun to write. I feel like my story slowed down a lot after initiation ended so it felt good to send Jaune back out into the Grimm territory again. The actual action was only the last third of this chapter though. Hope it was to your liking.

The chapter length blew up to be way bigger than I expected and that seems to be happening a lot. I remember when I started this story I was happy to make a chapter five thousand words. Now I usually hover between eight and nine thousand. I guess that means my story is evolving!

I don't know how the rest of you feel about it but between this chapter and the last one I realize I absolutely love writing for Penny. I actually had so much fun with her I'm almost considering writing a story shipping Penny and Jaune. For this story though, I don't plan to have any romantic undertones between them; Just goofy friendship. This is first and foremost a Jaune x Blake story after all (even if I am taking a really long time to get to the romance part).

I would also once again like to thank everyone that favorites, follows, and reviews this story. I don't say it nearly enough but you guys are all awesome and it really does inspire me to kick it into high-gear when I see how much support I have for this story. So thank you very much!

Next time, Blake and the others head out and Pyrrha and Sun lead the others in defense against the Grimm. Meanwhile, Jaune reluctantly follows Penny to confront Shirou.


	11. Pride

**Auburn**

_Chapter 11 - Pride_

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><p>Beta: Coeur Al'Aran<p>

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><p>"Good morning students of Lambent!" Blake jolted forward from her bed at the unexpected voice.<p>

On instinct she reached for Gambol Shroud and her body tensed for immediate combat. Only half-way through the action did she realize how silly that was. She was in a bed in her room in the middle of a secure tower. Alone. No one had snuck up on her in her sleep and she was in no danger. At least, she didn't think so. Her damn jumpiness from all those years of living with a criminal organization still lingered in her subconscious apparently.

No, she had to calm down and just think about what happened. That was the voice of Shirou Schnee, the headmaster of Lambent. He had addressed the entire student body. That meant he must have been coming through a speaker in her room. Just as she finished thinking this he continued. "I apologize for waking you up at this hour but I figured you would all want to hear this as soon as possible."

Speaking of, what time was it? It was impossible to tell time in here with no windows. Blake grabbed her scroll and her eyebrow quirked up when she saw it was just past one in the morning. He had better have a really good reason for interrupting their sleep.

"I am contacting you all from a place known as Razor Canyon. It is about eight kilometres to the south-west of Lambent. I've actually gone ahead and pinged it on your scrolls for you. Don't lose that spot because I've also cut the signal to your scrolls with that message, and you won't be able to utilize some functions until I deem it appropriate."

Blake got to her feet and flicked the light to her room on as Shirou was talking. Once done, she glanced around for the speaker and found it located just above her sliding door. She didn't know why but it was comforting to stare at the source of the voice.

"You're probably wondering why I am informing you of all of this." He had that right. "Well, this is the fun part. You're all going to enjoy this. About an hour ago I took your leaders with me on a training excursion...only it's not really a training excursion. You see, I would guess hundreds of Grimm are about to come charging towards us any minute now. Your leaders...well, they're all going to die."

Blake's heart stopped for a second.

"Jaune."

She bolted for her door. She held her scroll up to it but it didn't move. She pulled at the handle but it remained wedged shut. She was trapped.

"That is, they'll all die if you all don't come running to this location to change that. Before any of you go charging out I want you to think about something." He wasn't exactly giving them a choice to go charging by locking them in their rooms. "Your leaders make up one fourth of the total student body. That's really not a large amount when you think about it. If you all come running out here after them I guarantee about half of you will die. That is double the amount of casualties as opposed to if you all just stayed put. Is it really worth risking two of you just to maybe save one person?"

Blake kicked her door in frustration and hissed loudly. She was ready to blow it open with Dust if she didn't get out in the next couple seconds. What kind of nonsense did he think he was spouting off? Blake would charge out there by herself if she had to. She wasn't leaving Jaune to die.

"Just some food for thought. Whether you stay behind or come out to die with them makes no difference to me. The choice is now yours." The speaker clicked off and the door slid open simultaneously. Blake stumbled out from the sudden lack of resistance but quickly regained her footing and slammed herself into Jaune's door which was immediately across the hall.

"Jaune! Jaune, open the door if you're in there!" She banged on it as hard as she could but she wasn't going to get any response and she knew it. He was gone.

That idiot! She had told him to see her before his mission. Did he forget or had he simply decided because it had been midnight to let her sleep. It didn't matter. Either way she was furious. She would give him an earful later. Right after she gut Shirou Schnee wide open.

"Jaune!" Ruby screamed as she bolted out her door only a second later. She scurried up to Blake who only shook her head at the younger girl. Ruby immediately looked around in panic as she tried to figure out what the next step to take was.

"Pyrrha!" Yang ran out of her room too. She punched her leader's door so hard it left a dent in it.

"Glorious Leader!" Nora cried right behind her. Ren silently exited his room but the worry was evident on his face.

"Would you all just stop with your yammering!" Weiss snapped as she appeared from the room next to Blake's. Compared to the rest of them she looked incredibly composed. She was already in her combat attire and was hooking Myrtenaster to her hip. "The faster you all quit floundering around like fish out of water and gear up the faster we can save Pyrrha and that dunce."

Blake may have disliked Weiss, but in this case she made a good point. They weren't going to accomplish anything in their sleepwear. If she wanted to save Jaune and kill that crazy headmaster she needed to think quickly and rationally. Usually that was her specialty but it seemed whenever Jaune was brought into the equation she threw some of her rationality out the window. That was something she needed to work on.

Silently she stalked back to her room as quick as her feet would take her. Ruby had already vanished in a flurry of petals. Yang returned to her own room mumbling curses the whole way while Nora skipped to hers. Ren, like Ruby, had already vanished into his room.

Blake immediately changed clothes and equipped Gambol Shroud to her back. She grabbed her scroll and tried to dial Jaune on the way out but her scroll was no longer receiving any kind of reception. Damn it!

She stepped out of her room to see Ruby and Ren already prepared. The only ones left were Nora and Yang. They had better hurry! Every second they wasted was a second Jaune might die.

"Belladonna, you need to calm down. I can feel your Aura seething from here." Weiss clicked her heels against the metal floor and Blake turned her irritated gaze on the heiress.

"You don't appear the least bit surprised by these turn of events. Did you know about this?" She accused pointedly. It wouldn't surprise her one bit if Weiss had a hand in this somehow.

"How dare you!" Weiss' shoulders hiked and she leaned forward as her face reddened with anger. "I would never go along with such a barbaric test!"

"You don't seem very surprised by this outcome either though." Yang reappeared from her room and she appeared just as disgruntled about the whole thing as Blake felt.

"That's because I know my uncle! This stupid game is exactly like something he would come up with. Now if you're all ready; let's go!" She turned around and stomped towards the elevator just as Nora re-emerged ready to go.

"This isn't exactly a game, Weiss." Ruby jogged up to her partner. "Jaune and Pyrrha really might die. Along with a lot of others." They stopped at the elevator and waited impatiently for it to arrive.

"You all really don't get it." Weiss gave a sigh of frustration and turned to face them. "Life is one big game to my uncle. Especially when life is on the line. I guarantee you he gave them several options too. He knows we're all going to come running to save them. He's planning on it."

The elevator opened and they all walked inside. "What does he plan to accomplish by doing this then?" Ren rubbed his chin as he considered Weiss' words. "Does he really plan to allow half of us to die?"

"He's certainly prepared for that outcome." Weiss nodded and Blake felt her hair bristle. What kind of shit had they gotten themselves involved with? "My guess is he gave them some kind of loophole. Some way out. He probably presented it as the least viable option but in actuality that is the one he wants them to take the most. That's what he does."

"What kind of loophole stops hundreds of Grimm from swarming on you?" Yang asked the question that Blake knew Weiss had no way of answering. They simply didn't have enough information about what was going on over there.

"We're just going to have to find out when we get there." Weiss responded curtly as the elevator arrived at the bottom floor. They wasted no time in scurrying out one of the doors and running for the nearest exit.

"Should we wait for the other students to get down here?" Ruby took a look back towards the elevator as it made its way back up.

"They'll only slow us down!" Nora responded and Blake was surprised to find that she agreed with her.

"We won't be too far ahead of them and there is safety in smaller groups. We'll attract Grimm if we become too large a mob." Blake reasoned aloud.

The doors slid open and they ran into the moonlit landscape. "Map bearer! Where are we heading?" Weiss called and it took Blake a moment to remember that that was the title Jaune had given her. She thought about telling Weiss to figure it out herself but remembered how horrible she was with direction. For Jaune's sake she simply started jogging towards their destination. It took every ounce of willpower not to full-out sprint. She needed her energy if she was going to be any help. The others quickly followed after her.

They were coming, now she just had to hope Jaune wouldn't do anything stupid.

Who was she kidding, it was Jaune. The very first thing he did was bound to be stupid.

* * *

><p>"We need a plan. Like ASAP." Sun was the first one amongst the team of doomed hunters-in-training to say something. The sound of Grimm was getting louder and they could feel the ground start to shake as every second brought more and more of them stampeding closer.<p>

"Shouldn't we just do what he said and defend ourselves until our teammates arrive?" One of the others asked. Several others voiced agreement.

"No way! I say we get the Hell out of here!" Another shouted and more voices joined in with her's.

"And leave our teammates to come running to their deaths? We're supposed to be leaders!"

"It'll take them an hour to get here at best! We might already be dead before they show up!"

"Perhaps we should try to find him? There's no way he could take all of us."

"I'm not going after that psycho! Who knows how many of us he'll split in half before we manage to subdue him! The first option is definitely the best!"

"What do you think, Jaune?" One of them suddenly asked but received no reply.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked and she prodded him lightly with her finger.

"What's up?" He asked as he looked at her. He then realized everyone else was staring at him. "Oh. When you said Jaune you were referring to me? I thought you meant that other guy named...Jaune." Yeah okay. That sounded really stupid now that he said it out loud. "Why are we asking me again?"

"You came up with that ingenious idea to take down a full-grown Deathstalker man! Surely you have some kind of plan to get us outta this mess." Sun clapped him hard in the back and he almost stumbled forward.

"Right…" What had he gotten himself into? He had simply been trying to make sure people didn't die. He hadn't been trying to default himself to leader of the group. What the Hell did he know? He had to think of something quick though. They were all looking at him expectantly. Just spit out the first thing that came to mind. They would realize he was incompetent and go back to figuring it out themselves. "So...the headmaster gave us three options. Who says we only have to pick one though?"

They all looked at him like he had grown another head for a second before he quickly continued on. "Look, there's twenty of us. There's no reason we can't split up and still survive this. I think someone should take a small team and lead them to intercept the others that are coming to save us. They can even lure some of the Grimm away that would otherwise be swarming the rest of us." Sure, that sounded like a horrible enough plan. Now they would all just ignore him.

"What would be the point of that?" Someone asked and before Jaune could do so much as shrug Pyrrha cut in with her scroll held up.

"He said he cut off our teammate's scrolls. Ours are still receiving a connection though. We can still communicate amongst ourselves using the walkie function. Once that team finds the others we can relay our situation and even coordinate a strategy with them. If we play it right we might even be able to pincer some of the Grimm between both groups. That must be what Jaune was aiming for."

"That makes sense."

"Ingenious! How did you even realize that, Jaune?" Uh...they were aware that they came up with that on their own, right?

"I'll lead that group!" Sun stepped forward as he volunteered himself for the role. "As a Faunus I should be able to detect the others a little more readily." Just after he spoke, three others volunteered to join him and their team was formed. They took off only a second later to cover as much ground as possible.

Jaune stared after them as they scaled the canyon with an open mouth. They did not just actually do that, did they? No one was supposed to take his idea seriously.

"What about the rest of us, Jaune?" He turned back to them to see them even more hopeful than before. They were all seriously expecting him to come up with the rest.

"Okay then..." Might as well try and keep them alive as long as possible if it came to this. "...while Sun and them do that it'll be up to the others to mount a defence here as best they can. I say that we should duck and hide amongst the vines while picking off the the Grimm that drop in with Dust rounds." That sounded nice and safe. He wouldn't even have to contribute seeing as he didn't have a ranged weapon attached to his sword.

"He's got a great point. This canyon offers a lot of protection and we should be able to confuse them by moving amongst the vines and striking at them from the shadows. If what the headmaster said is true then the Grimm are going to be running straight for him. Hopefully they'll be too distracted to be checking every little nook and cranny for us." Pyrrha once again filled in better reasons for his plan and he groaned internally as they all praised him yet again.

"Should we send a team after the headmaster as well then?" Someone else asked him expectantly.

"Sure." He shrugged. If they were that determined to supply the ideas and thank him for them than he might as well go along with it at this point. "We should probably just send our best couple fighters. No point in sending someone he is just going to kill right away." By that last sentence he was referring to himself of course.

"I have already detected where his signal is coming from. I shall lead the two of us down there." Penny suddenly spoke and Jaune nodded. He had expected Penny would be one of the two to go. He didn't know how strong the others were but none of them likely held a candle to Pyrrha. She was undoubtedly the other one who should go.

"Who's going to direct us while the two of you are down there?" Someone asked and Jaune tilted his head in confusion. What did she mean by that?

"I'll take charge up here." Pyrrha declared as she stepped forward. Murmurs spread as the other leaders recognized her.

"Wait, what?" If Pyrrha was staying up here then who was going after Shirou Schnee with Penny?

"Come on, Jaune! Let us go and achieve victory!" Penny whooped as she grabbed Jaune by the wrist and began dragging him away.

"Wait, wait! Penny! Why am I going with you?" He didn't understand how things had ended up this way.

"Good luck Jaune!" Pyrrha called after him. Wait a second! It was supposed to be her! Not him!

"You ask the strangest questions, Jaune!" Penny jumped to the next vine down and pulled him down with her. He barely managed to land properly behind her. "You said the two strongest should go after Mr Schnee. You and I are clearly the two strongest."

"I'm afraid I don't follow." How was it possible that not just Penny but everyone up there thought he was stronger than Pyrrha Nikos? Thee Pyrrha Nikos, four time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament!

"You and I killed the strongest Grimm previously. May I add we did so effortlessly while the others struggled to so much as cause them any damage. Ergo we are the strongest pair amongst our peers." Penny stated this all matter-of-factly and Jaune's eye twitched.

What she said may have been true but it had been nothing more than dumb luck on his end. They probably would've figured something out even if he hadn't intervened. It was apparently too late to change their minds now.

As they descended into the darkness below he heard the sounds of fighting break out overhead. Whether he was ready for it or not, Shirou's true test had begun.

The deeper they descended the less light they received from the moon and stars. He hadn't realized how bright it had appeared before until he had suddenly lost it. As it got too hard for him to even see his own hand in front of his face he pulled out his scroll and turned on the flashlight. A moment later Penny did the same.

"How far down do we have to go?" Now that he thought about it, how was it that Penny was tracking him anyways? She had said she had locked onto his signal but how exactly was she doing that? He could probably ask her but decided to just chalk it up to her Semblance or something similar. Really, he didn't even know why he still let things surprise him after everything he had been through.

"I believe he is on the canyon floor. We have to descend for a while yet." The vine they were currently walking on spiralled upwards and Penny tilted her gaze down in an attempt to find one that would lead them deeper.

"I hope he has some kind of light prepared. Unless he's secretly a Faunus or something he's not going to be able to see down there either." Jaune used his light to help her look and they finally located one about ten metres down. The vines were getting more and more scarce the further they descended it would seem.

"Hang on, Jaune." Penny's sword flew above them and buried themselves in a vine over their heads. He wrapped an arm around her waist and they stepped off together. The strings attached to her swords held them suspended in the air and after a second they began to unwind, lowering them deeper into the canyon. They touched down on the vine they had just seen earlier and continued to follow it. This one bent downwards at a steep angle and if Jaune had to guess would take them all the way to their destination.

"Do you have a strategy or anything for taking this guy on?" Jaune asked as he ambled carefully forward. He supposed they should be sprinting full force after this guy but he really didn't want to trip and fall off this thing. That would be kind of counter-productive.

"I am unaware of Mr Schnee's combat capabilities. I will analyse him first and begin an assault in earnest when I am more certain of his abilities." Penny continued to walk at a more natural pace ahead of him and she was beginning to put some distance between them.

"You don't really think we're capable of beating him, do you? I mean, I know this sounds bad since it was my idea but he's some kind of renowned swordsman. I don't like our odds." What other choice did they have though? A lot of people were going to die if he didn't hold up his end. That was a ton of pressure considering it was his plan they were running with. What if the survivors blamed and hated him? Before he thought about things like that he had to make sure he was among the survivors of course.

"We do not have to defeat Mr Schnee. Our objective is to disable his scroll. I am confident in my abilities to achieve this task!" Penny flexed and Jaune felt a little of the tension leave his body. If she was this confident then maybe he should just trust in her? She was clearly incredibly strong. Maybe they actually had a chance. Still, if he didn't have to fight he wasn't going to. He would save that for when they confronted Shirou though.

Finally, something that looked like ground came into sight. It was only until they got right up to it that Jaune realized it wasn't the floor of the canyon at all. It was hundreds of little white roots overlapping one another and forming a web that spanned across the entire visible surface. "What are these things?"

"They are the roots to the vines." Penny confirmed what he had thought just a moment ago.

"Is he still beneath these?" He didn't see a single way to proceed further down.

"He is." Penny flexed her fingers and her swords spun around above the before burrowing into the roots around them and forming a small circle around the two of them.

He saw where this was going. "Penny! Please wai-" He never finished that sentence as her swords sawed the roots apart and cut a perfect circle around them open. The roots they were standing on fell away and they went with them.

Damn it, Penny! Jaune mentally screamed this in his mind as he was again clinging to her as the tumbled in the air. Fortunately for him they didn't fall far this time before they crashed onto the hard rock floor.

He groaned in pain as he stumbled to his feet and patted himself down. Thankfully his Aura was as large as it was. Still, he couldn't afford to waste it on stupid things like this. He needed every drop of it he could get.

"Fascinating." Penny mumbled and Jaune finally bothered to take in his surroundings. Fascinating...was right. They were now in the deepest level of the canyon and by all means it should have been pitch-black down here. This was not the case at all. Hanging from the roots that formed a ceiling above them were little bulbs that were glowing with natural yellow light.

"What are these things?" He asked in awe as he stared up at them.

His spine shivered in fear when a voice that wasn't Penny's responded. "They're filled with naturally phosphorus Dust that reacts to Aura nearby it. Just by getting close to them they light up." Shirou Schnee stood a small ways away on what looked like a small island with only a small pathway connecting it. Surrounding the island was nothing but darkness as it descended too far down for Jaune to see.

"Miss Nikos!" Penny held up her scroll as she utilized the walkie feature. "We have located the enemy and are about to engage him in combat. What is your status? Over."

After several moments of silence Pyrrha's voice crackled over both their scrolls. "We're doing fine so far. Most of the Grimm we're picking off with dust rounds as they fall into the canyon. I think most of us are running low on ammunition and are going to have to switch to physical combat soon. Over." At least no one had died yet.

Penny nodded at Pyrrha's response. "Mr Wukong? Status? Over."

"Busy running! Can't talk!" His voice crackled over almost immediately. He sounded ragged and out of breath. There must have been a lot of Grimm after them. "Do we really have to say 'over'?"

"Alright! Let us do this Jaune!" Penny completed ignored Sun's question and slipped her scroll away before purposefully strolling over to Shirou.

"Penny, wait!" Jaune ran around in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder, halting her progress. He leaned in close to her ear so he could talk without Shirou overhearing. "Let me talk to him first. Maybe I can convince him to stop this without having to fight."

Penny tilted her head and he could swear he heard the gears in her head whirl as she processed his request. "I predict that you have a less than one percent chance of being able to change his mind."

"But there is a chance." Jaune patted her shoulder and she nodded. "Then let me try."

"I would like to state that I am against this idea, but I shall give you the benefit of the doubt. That is what best friends do after all." Penny finally relented and Jaune surprised them both by giving her a quick hug.

"Thanks! Just leave him to me!" He turned back to Shirou who had yet to move from his spot and hadn't said anything since making himself known.

Slowly Jaune approached him. Every step echoed across the canyon and struck like thunder in his ears. The otherwise silence was unsettling. He didn't know what Penny used to calculate her statistic but he really couldn't afford to dwell on his abysmal odds. Besides, he had no doubt that if he tried to actually fight this guy the chances of him dying were one hundred percent. He would rather take his chances with conversation first.

He came up to the walkway that would lead him to Shirou's island. The land they were standing on cut away for the length of the canyon and formed a steep cliff that disappeared into nothing. The walkway was barely wide enough for him to walk across and he felt a sense of vertigo take over as he glared at it.

With a deep breath he started across and once he reached the halfway point Shirou finally spoke again. "If you come any farther I will assume you are prepared for combat." Jaune stopped hard and looked away from his feet and up into Shirou's eyes. They were squinted closed as always and he couldn't read any expression in them. His voice had been cold but his mouth was curled in that same creepy grin he always had. His katana was unsheathed and held in his left hand, pointed directly downwards. "I must admit though, I knew it would be you in the end that would come to face me."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. Why was it this guy seemed to think he knew him so well? If he knew anything about him he would know that he had actually tried to get out of this. Before he could ask though, Shirou continued. "You and I are pretty similar, Mr Arc. I can tell just by looking at you." There it was again. Ozpin had said the same thing earlier. No matter how Jaune looked at it they were nothing alike.

"You look like you disagree." His face must have given him away again. "That's alright though. You might not understand it yet but one day you will. Well, if I don't kill you right here that is. I confess, I'm a little disappointed that I was right. You should turn around while you have the chance." Finally, Jaune saw an opportunity to talk.

"If you don't want to kill me then let's end this whole game right here. Just shut that damn Grimm whistle off and let's all fly back to Lambent. No one here has to die."

"Now why would I do that? That would defeat the whole purpose of this game." Shirou raised his right arm up and Jaune saw his scroll attached to it like a watch.

"What is the purpose of this game then?" He had no way of convincing Shirou to back off if he didn't know what he was even testing them on.

"Several things, actually. Are you sure you have time to just stand around and ask me all these questions? Every second you waste is another second someone up there really might die." Jaune didn't respond back and just glared at him as he waited for his answer. With a short sigh, he continued. "You young Hunters-in-training don't understand anything. You grow up in the safety of the kingdoms, training against other students and not against the true threat out there. What little Grimm you do encounter are young and naive. You kill them and suddenly you all get cocky and think you're ready to take on the world. You don't know what it's like to have your pride ripped out from your very core and watch helplessly as you lose control of the situation."

"Why give us options then?" Jaune was trying not to show it but Shirou's words had cut him a little more deeply than even he wanted to admit.

"It was just another way to simulate control. Control that you don't really have. Stay and fight? Run away? Confront me? They're all hopeless. You will all realize that as the night goes on. Those of you that survive will, anyways. When dawn comes around your spirits will be broken. Only once that has happened can I truly begin moulding you into the strongest band of Hunters this world has ever seen." Ozpin had been right! This place was twisted beyond what Jaune could have possibly imagined. He felt anger boil in his stomach and his teeth grit together so hard he could hear them.

"You are already different though, Jaune. That is why I am going to give you this offer." Shirou continued talking and Jaune instinctively took a step back. He hadn't expect to be called by his first name. "If you come over here I will offer you my protection. You don't have to fight and you don't have to die. Just stand here and watch."

Jaune's mouth went dry and his shoulders slacked as all the anger vanished from his body only to be replaced by confusion. "Why?" It was the only word he was capable of asking.

"Because I can tell just by looking at you. You have no pride." No! He was wrong about that! Jaune had some pride. He was proud of his ancestors. He was proud to carry on their family name...who was he kidding? That was their pride. None of that was truly his own. His pride had been ripped from him long ago. Just like Shirou had said.

"So what do you say, Jaune?" Shirou extended his hand and Jaune stared at it uncertainly. He couldn't abandon his friends and teammates. It wasn't even an option he was willing to consider. If Shirou was as similar to Jaune as he claimed to be though, then why did he assume Jaune would take it? There was without a doubt something fundamentally different about them.

"Weiss told me a little about you growing up." Jaune started talking slowly, meticulously even, as he tried to form the thoughts while his mouth was moving. "If you think I'm as similar to you as you claim why don't you prove it?"

"Hmm...you want to know about my childhood? Why not. If you want to talk, then let's talk." Shirou's grin got a little bit bigger as he appeared to be swept away in nostalgia. "If Weiss told you some things then surely she told you that my father sent my mother away while she was pregnant for me?" Jaune nodded. "She had been born and raised in Vacuo, you see. Father wanted to keep her close by though, so he sent us to the suburbs in Atlas. He sent her a small sum of money every month. Money that was supposedly enough to pay for the place and raise me by herself. We were supposed to live without a care in the world."

"He never came and checked for himself, though. Not once did he come to visit." Jaune figured Shirou was talking about something rather bitter but you never would have guessed it just listening to the tone of his voice. He was talking as if they were all fond memories. "It was a really bad neighbourhood, you see. When I was only a toddler, a local gang somehow caught word that money was being sent to our address. They came and ousted us, ripped us from our home. We were forced out onto the streets. Mother wrote many letters to the Schnee Dust Company but I only found out later that father never received a single one. He had no idea what was happening to us."

"Mother started working multiple jobs to make ends meet. It was rough for her but she always worked her hardest. Winters in Atlas are brutal though and one year she fell gravely ill. I was only six years old. I set out to find work in her place but you can imagine how hard it is for a child to find a legitimate means to earn money. By chance I stumbled across a very specialized establishment. One where they pitted children to beat one another for betting and their own twisted amusement. The pay was decent, especially if you were unique like me. Apparently the adults there got off on watching a little half-Vacuo boy get his teeth kicked in by kids sometimes six years older."

"Summer came around and mother hadn't gotten any better. If anything it seemed like she was getting worse. I used my money to pay for medication and even managed to find a doctor that would look at her. Turns out, she had caught some kind of disease for which there was no known cure. I was too young to learn the name of it and never bothered looking it up. He gave her a year to live at best. I was seven when we received this news. I couldn't accept it. I started going to the fights more often. Every day I got kicked around until I couldn't move. Every day I came home to mother with broken bones and new bruises. Do you know what she would say to me?"

"'Son, you are a Schnee. Schnee's don't have to get into fights over something petty like money. Take pride in yourself and become a good man. Mother will get better on her own. Just worry about your studies.'"

Shirou snorted as if it was funny. "What studies did I have? We couldn't afford to send me to school. I had to work. She wasn't going to live if I didn't work. Every morning, mother would remind me of my heritage and to take pride in my name. Every evening I would have that pride stomped out of my body as I fought just to make enough money to keep us both breathing. This continued until I was ten years old. The winter had been bad that year. Finally, the illness claimed my mother's life and I was left completely alone in the world."

"I was just wandered the streets for days until I collapsed from the cold and the exhaustion. I didn't see the point to anything anymore. If the outcome had already been inevitable why had I worked so hard to prevent it? I simply didn't know what else to do. So I resolved myself to die there on the street, with snow piling up on top of my body."

"What a kick in the teeth it was that father's car happened to be passing down that street. They brought me to the Schnee Manor and father became aware of everything. The men that ran and participated in the illegal child fights that had supported me for years were arrested. The gang that had evicted my mother and me were dismantled brutally. Father made all this happen with only a couple calls. He then promised me that he would take care of me. He wept and wept as he apologized for everything I had gone through. He told me that I would never have a want in the world. He would make sure of it."

Do you know what I did when he told me this?" Jaune shook his head. "I laughed! I laughed and laughed for days." He spread his arms out and his grin stretched across his whole face. Jaune almost averted his eyes out of instinct. "What a feeling that was! I didn't know something like laughter could feel so great. How ironic the whole thing was. I got beat every day to try and create a better life for myself and my mother when if I simply would have just let her die from the beginning, father would have come running to pull me out of that Hell. I would've killed her myself if I had realized that."

"And so there you are. Does that answer all your burning questions about me?" Shirou once again extended his hand towards Jaune. "If it does, I would like your answer."

Jaune stood in silence for a few moments as he took in everything Shirou had just told him. Finally, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "Oh man, that's a load off my mind." Shirou raised an eyebrow at him and Jaune grinned back in response. "I was really afraid that after I heard what you had to say, I would realize that we really are alike. Now though, I can tell you beyond a shadow of doubt though that you and I are nothing alike. There's no way in Hell I'm the same as a bastard who was glad his mother died."

Shirou's hand lowered back down to his side and his usual smile twisted into a confused frown. "Please do elaborate."

Jaune shrugged. Why the Hell not? They were already sharing life stories. He also now knew what to say to convince Shirou to end this whole thing. No one had to die...almost no one. "You've heard of my family before?"

"Of course I have. The Arcs are famous war heroes throughout history. They were often integral in determining the outcome of many major battles." Shirou responded matter-of-factly.

Jaune nodded and smiled as he thought about his ancestors. "When I was a little kid, my dad used to tell me about all the heroic things they did. I looked up to them. I wanted nothing more than to become a great Hunter and warrior like they all were. Like what my dad was. He would always tell me that one day it would be my turn to pick up Crocea Mors and that I would change history with it. His favorite thing to tell me was 'Just be confident Jaune. All a girl looks for in a man is confidence.' I took those words to heart."

"Those were his words to me after all. I have seven sisters so getting individual attention from our parents could be a little hard sometimes. But if it was about my ancestors, dad would always take time to talk directly to me. It was my duty to continue their legacy as the man of the family." That was a little chauvinistic now that he thought about it. His sisters were never expected to become Huntresses. Kind of ironic considering the strongest people he knew were all girls.

"The village treated me the same way. Everywhere I went they would tell me some tidbit about my family. They would always tell me they had high hopes for me and they couldn't wait for me to return one day a hero. I couldn't wait until I started training to become a Hunter. I was ten years old when just before dad left for a mission he told me that when he got back he would start my training. I was so excited I could barely sleep that night. I waited and waited for him to come home. When he finally did...well, he wasn't the same."

Jaune sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair. He hated thinking about this part. "Dad was injured really badly on his mission. His life as a Hunter...it was over. He had such a hollow look in his eyes for weeks. I would've done anything to take away that look from him; to make him go back to the strong, confident, reliable person that he used to be. So one day I went into his room and made him a promise. I told him I would become the strongest Hunter on Remnant and make him proud. After I said that, emotion returned to his eyes for the first time in weeks. Only it wasn't what I was expecting. He got angry. He looked at me dead in the eyes and told me: 'You will die and fool's death like every single Arc before you.' Those words felt like a huge slap in the face."

"Dad started telling me stories about my ancestors again. Now though, instead of heroic tales of their great deeds they had become brutal lessons of their gruesome deaths. Those stories scared the crap out of me. He used such vivid details it would give me nightmares. It goes without saying that he never started training me and he refused to enrol me into combat school. Not that I likely would've wanted to go anyways. It wasn't just him that changed. The entire village quit giving me their words of expectation. Instead they talked to me like they were walking around landmines. Every conversation was awkward and forced. Eventually I quit even wanting to go out into town. I became this weak, awkward, terrified person; exactly like what dad wanted. Someone like me could never become a Hunter and instead I would live a long, peaceful life."

He felt a hand rest comfortingly on his shoulder and he turned to see Penny giving him a nervous smile. He had almost forgotten she was here she had been so silent this whole time. He patted the hand she had placed on his shoulder and turned back to Shirou.

"Just before I turned seventeen a man appeared one evening. He claimed to be an acquaintance of my dad's and he wanted to see him. The moment my dad saw him though he got angry and started yelling for him to leave. So he left. I was curious though so I followed after him. It turns out he was one of the people my dad saved on his last mission. He had spent a long time trying to track him down so he could give him his thanks. The smile and the tears in the man's face as he told me this...it changed me."

"I suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to be a Hunter. I didn't care how scary it was. I didn't care that it would lead to my death. I realized right then that if my death could allow someone to continue to survive and make that expression then I would gladly give my life. Now here I am. Ready to die if it means I can protect someone. That is why I'll never take your offer. That's what makes you and me so different." Jaune instinctively stood a little straighter as he finished and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Sorry my story wasn't as long and boring as yours." He added as an afterthought.

Shirou's creepy grin returned when Jaune finished and it looked like he was holding back the urge to laugh. "You're more of a twisted kid than I thought." He spoke full of mirth. "Okay then, I have another offer for you. This one may be more to your liking." He paused for several seconds before continuing. "Come over here and allow me to kill you. Just stand still and I'll stab you in the heart. If you do that I'll end this whole game right now. Everyone else gets to go back to Lambent for a good night's rest."

Was he being...serious? Jaune could never really tell with this guy. If he really meant that offer than wasn't that something he should definitely take? He just got done saying how he would gladly die if it meant others would be able to live. His resolve would look really half-assed if he backed away from Shirou's proposition now.

At the same time, just handing his life over wasn't exactly how he had planned to go either. He had always pictured it as some heroic last stand while his teammates fled for their lives. It would be a spur of the moment decision, one he made as he realized there was no way for them all to escape unless someone sacrificed himself. He would hesitantly step forward for that role. The others would cry and thank him as they fled. It all sounded really poetic in his head.

It was kind of the opposite of what Shirou suggested. He was just supposed to stand there and let himself get stabbed? That sounded...really lame. Did the way it happened though really matter? If the outcome was half of his teammates being spared than it went without saying that he should do this. He still was really young though...he had also pictured himself being much older when this happened. He wanted to marry a beautiful woman, have children, teach them what it meant to be an Arc. If he gave himself up here he would never be able to experience any of that.

If he didn't give himself up here...as many as forty others might never get to experience any of that happiness either. How could he possibly weigh his life against forty others? Theirs undoubtably held way more value than his own. Even if he looked at them individually they would all contribute far more to society as Hunters than a sham like himself would.

He...he had to do this.

He really, really didn't want this to be the way he died but when he looked at it as he just had then it was undoubtably the best choice, wasn't it?

"Tick tock tick tock, Mr Arc. What is your answer? I really hope after that little tale you told you aren't getting cold feet now." Shirou's voice was taunting and full of mirth. Jaune just wanted to punch him in the face and knock that smug grin right off his face. Instead he forced himself to calm down and let out a sigh of defeat. His clenched hands unfurled and he prepared himself to do what he had to.

"No way!" Penny's grip on Jaune's shoulder tightened as she cut him off and pulled him slightly backwards.

"Penny." Jaune took a big breath and tried to keep his voice as steady as possible. He had to appear strong. He couldn't let her know how terrified he was. "We should consider this. There's no guarantee we can win. What if he kills both of us while we're trying to fight him? We would die and the others would have no chance. This way prevents the most deaths."

"I will not accept it!" Penny remained adamant. "No one up there would agree with this plan. You are the one inspiring everyone right now. If you die they will lose hope." She was surely exaggerating. There was no way that was true.

"An interesting proposition. Want to test it?" Shirou's grin had grown wicked, almost calculating. It looked like the conversation was playing out exactly as he planned. Without elaborating any further, Shirou lifted his scroll to his mouth and began talking into it. "Attention all leaders. Mr Arc and myself have come to terms to end this game. All Mr Arc has to do is allow me to kill him. If he does you all get to go back to bed. I just figured I would get a consensus from the rest of you. If even one person agrees then this whole thing can end right now. If not, the game will continue at your own peril. So what do you say?"

That was it? Only one person had to say they wanted him dead and they could all leave? Surely there was one amongst them that would agree to this. He heaved a big sigh. He supposed this was it. Any less regrets he wanted to reflect on? He'd already gotten his first kiss thanks to Blake.

Blake...damn, he would miss her. He had never gotten as close to someone as he had gotten to her. When he had been growing up it had always been his sisters that made all the friends. Any boy that had tried to befriend him and actually just been using him in order to get closer to one of his sisters. It had been really lonely growing up in that regard. The only connections he had ever formed had been with his family. Blake was his first real friend.

She would be beyond pissed when she found out what he was about to do. At least he would already be dead so she wouldn't be able to kick his ass. He kind of felt bad for whoever it was that inevitably voted him to die. That person was probably going to get a piece of her mind...and her foot. At least Weiss should be a little pleased about it. She would get her wish and be made leader with him out of the way. He just really hoped she would do everything she could to protect Blake and Ruby. Not like he had done a great job of that. His first mission out here and he was about to just throw his life away.

His scroll crackled to life as someone turned on their mic and he closed his eyes. Here it came. Someone was about to choose him to die. It had taken them awhile but he wasn't surprised about that. No one had likely wanted to be the one to vote him to die. Someone must have realized how hopeless their situation was though and now the moment was upon him.

Fear gripped his heart and caused his breath to hitch. He wasn't ready for this! He couldn't back out now either though. He had to do this...for all of them. He just really hoped Shirou made it quick.

"Are you fucking retarded?!" Sun's voice screamed into the scroll so loud it caused Jaune to jump in surprise. "There's no way in Hell anyone is going to say that they want Jaune to die for us! We're training to become Hunters damnit! We would all rather die fighting than allow someone to sacrifice himself for us!"

"Sun is right!" Pyrrha's voice crackled in immediately after. "Don't even think about handing yourself over to him, Jaune! We all need you!"

"Just kick his ass, Jaune!"

"Don't give yourself up for us, man! We can hold out until you win!"

"We believe in you, Jaune!"

He couldn't believe it. They all truly believed he had a chance? He clenched his hands in frustration. He was such an idiot. He kept making the same mistakes over and over again. What he had just tried to do was no different than when he had lured the Chimera off.

Shirou started to chuckle and Jaune looked at him in surprise. "You have a lot to learn about people with pride. They don't realize how hopeless their situation is yet like you do. Once the bodies start to drop though, they'll change their tune. Though, my offer won't be on the table anymore when that happens."

Jaune let out a long sigh and pulled out his sword and expanded his shield. If it came to this he had no choice but to fight. They were all depending on him. He had no right not to give it his all now. "Sorry Penny. I really thought this was the best way."

"It is okay, Jaune!" Penny patted him on the back. "This is why we have friends. To help keep us on the right track." Yeah, he supposed she was right. He was really lucky to have so many people that he could call friends now.

"It would appear the time for chatting is done." Shirou raised his katana and pointed it directly at Jaune and Penny. "If you are prepared to die than come."

"I'll try to create an opening by fighting him up close. You use your swords to try and snipe his scroll. We can adjust our strategy as we go. Sound good?" The hilt of Shirou's sword looked like it had dust containers on it; Exactly like Weiss' blade. He doubted their fighting styles were anything alike though.

"I will follow your lead." Penny assured him.

"Alright, then let's do this." His muscles tensed as he prepared to charge forward.

His part of the battle was about to begin. He just really hoped it wasn't as hopeless as he felt it was.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Would like to start this note by apologizing to everyone that was expecting this chapter to be completely full of action. I had initially planned for it to be action-packed in the second half but the length of the dialogue grew well beyond what I had expected and it ended up becoming the majority of the chapter. I can promise you though that next chapter will be full of combat as many characters have their time to shine. Hopefully it is worth your wait.

Shirou's past was heavily inspired by the backstory of Serpico from the Japanese manga Berserk. I think a lot of the similarities are still there but the end result and their personalities ended up drastically different. I hope you guys didn't find it too boring as I was really reluctant to put that much backstory into an OC. Figured I needed to give him at least a little more characterization though. It also should be a one-time thing OC-wise as I don't have any others that are going to have as nearly as big a role as he has.

Jaune meanwhile continues to show off his inner-Emiya as I give him his own backstory too. His ended up much shorter than Shirou's but I wanted to at least try and explain his mentality and willingness to sacrifice himself throughout the story. I doubt his canon history is anything that dark but seriously, how did someone that comes from a prestigious family of Hunters end up with no training or necessary knowledge to survive against Grimm.

Anyways...Next time, things begin to look dire as everyone struggles to keep one another alive.


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